Isoprenoid production

ABSTRACT

Isolated polynucleotides encoding polypeptides having the activity of enzymes in the mevalonate pathway are provided. These sequences are useful for recombinantly producing isoprenoid compounds, such as carotenoids, in particular zeaxanthin. Expression vectors, cultured cells, and methods of making isoprenoid compounds are also provided.

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/166,225, filed Jun. 5, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,989,257, which claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 60/296,299, filed Jun. 6, 2001, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to novel polynucleotides and polypeptide sequences useful in the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway. More particularly, the present invention provides recombinantly produced cells that exhibit improved production of zeaxanthin. Methods of making and using such cell lines are also provided.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Carotenoids are commercially important C-40 isoprenoid compounds used as nutritional supplements, pharmaceuticals and food colorants for humans and as pigments for animal feed. Currently industrially important carotenoids are produced mainly by chemical synthesis (β-carotene, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin) or extraction from natural sources (lutein from marigold, capsanthin from paprika). Production of carotenoids, however, using microorganisms has been achieved in some cases. For example, β-carotene is produced by fermentation with the fungus Blakeslea trispora (Finkelstein et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,328,845) or by pond culture using the halotolerant alga Dunaliella salina (Borowitzka, J. Biotechnol. 70, 313-321, 1999). Lycopene production has also been reported in B. trispora (Bernasconi et al., International Patent Application Publication No. WO 00/77234). Astaxanthin is produced by fermentation using yeast (Phaffia rhodozyma, (recently renamed Xanthophyllomyces dendorous)). (Jacobson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,684) or in photobioreactors or open ponds using the alga Haematococcus pluvialis (Lorenz and Cysewski, Trends Biotechnol. 18, 160-167, 1999; Olaizola, J. Appl. Phycol. 12, 499-506, 2000). Such microbial production systems, however, do not produce carotenoids in amounts sufficient for economical industrial scale production.

In the mid-1960's, scientists at Hoffmann-La Roche isolated several marine bacteria that produced the yellow carotenoid zeaxanthin, which has application in poultry pigmentation and the prevention of age-related macular degeneration in humans. One bacterium, which showed promising levels of zeaxanthin production, was given the strain designation R-1512, and it was deposited at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC, Manassas, Va., USA) as strain ATCC 21588 (Schocher and Wiss, U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,504). Using the accepted taxonomic standards of that time (classification performed by the Eidg. Technische Hochschule (Zurich) and the National Collection of Industrial Bacteria, Torry Research Station (Aberdeen, Scotland)), the zeaxanthin-producing organism was classified as a member of the genus Flavobacterium, but no species designation was assigned.

An extensive mutagenesis and screening program was subsequently conducted to isolate mutants of R-1512 with higher zeaxanthin productivities. With respect to the presently described work, two such mutants are significant. These mutants, listed in order of their zeaxanthin productivities, are R1534 and R114. A variety of other mutants have been used over the years for biochemical studies of carotenoid biosynthesis (Goodwin, Biochem. Soc. Symp. 35, 233-244, 1972; McDermott et al., Biochem. J. 134, 1115-1117, 1973; Britton et al., Arch. Microbiol. 113, 33-37, 1977; Mohanty et al., Helvetica Chimica Acta 83, 2036-2053, 2000).

The early attempts to develop a commercially viable fermentation process for the production of zeaxanthin using classically derived mutants of strain R-1512 were not successful. However, with the advent of molecular biology, the possibility arose that higher zeaxanthin-producing strains could be developed. The first step in this direction was taken with the cloning and sequencing of the carotenoid gene cluster from strain R1534 (Hohmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,152 (“Hohmann '152”), which is hereby incorporated by reference as if recited in full herein). Hohmann '152 discloses that the carotenoid genes were functionally expressed in Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis resulting in zeaxanthin production in these hosts. Hohmann '152 also disclosed that by modifying the carotenoid gene cluster or by adding a gene from an astaxanthin producing bacterium, it was possible to produce carotenoids other than zeaxanthin (See also Pasamontes et al., EP Application No. 872,554 (“Pasamontes '554”)). Moreover, Pasamontes '554 disclosed that carotenoid production was increased in strain R1534 by introducing cloned carotenoid gene clusters on a multi-copy plasmid.

Despite the enormous structural diversity in isoprenoid compounds, all are biosynthesized from a common C-5 precursor, isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPP). Up until the early 1990's it was generally accepted that IPP was synthesized in all organisms via the mevalonate pathway (FIG. 1A), even though some experimental results were not consistent with this biogenic scheme (Eisenreich et al., Chemistry and Biology 5, R221-R233, 1998). The discrepancies have since been reconciled by the discovery of an alternate pathway of IPP biosynthesis, the deoxyxylulose (DXP) pathway (Note: The alternate pathway of IPP biosynthesis has been referred to by various names in the scientific literature (DXP pathway, DOXP pathway, MEP pathway, GAP/pyruvate pathway and the non-mevalonate pathway). We use the name DXP pathway here only for the sake of simplicity). The first five reactions of the DXP pathway have been identified (FIG. 1A) (Herz et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 97, 2486-2490, 2000), but the subsequent steps leading to formation of IPP have not yet been elucidated.

McDermott et al. (Biochem. J. 134, 1115-1117, 1973) and Britton et al. (J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Comm. p. 27, 1979) showed that crude extracts of zeaxanthin producing mutant strains derived from the original Roche isolates incorporated labeled mevalonate into zeaxanthin. While there was no reason to question this evidence for IPP biosynthesis via the mevalonate pathway, the work was done prior to the discovery of the DXP pathway, and it has been reported that some bacteria (Streptomyces species) possess both pathways for IPP synthesis and that expression of these pathways is temporally regulated (Seto et al., Tetrahedron Lett. 37, 7979-7982, 1996; Dairi et al., Mol. Gen. Genet. 262, 957-964, 2000.). In addition, at present, only a small number of eubacteria have been shown to possess the mevalonate pathway for IPP synthesis. The genes encoding the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway have been cloned and sequenced from some of these bacteria. (Wilding et al., J. Bacteriol. 182, 4319-4327, 2000 and Takagi et al., J. Bacteriol.; 182, 4153-4157, 2000).

Several examples exist where the application of metabolic engineering has succeeded in altering or improving carotenoid production in microorganisms (Lagarde et al., Appl. Env. Microbiol. 66, 64-72, 2000.; Wang et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 62, 235-241, 1999; Wang et al., Biotechnol. Prog. 16, 922-926, 2000 (and references therein); Sandmann et al., Trends Biotechnol. 17, 233-237, 2000; Misawa and Shimada, J. Biotechnol. 59, 169-181, 1998; Matthews and Wurtzel, Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 53, 396-400, 2000; Albrecht et al., Nature Biotechnol. 18, 843-846, 2000; Schmidt-Dannert et al., Nature Biotechnol. 18, 750-753 2000). For example, E. coli, a non-carotenogenic bacterium, can be engineered to produce carotenoids by introducing the cloned carotenoid (crt) genes from the bacteria Agrobacterium aurantiacum, Erwinia herbicola or Erwinia uredovora (Misawa and Shimada, J. Biotechnol. 59, 169-181, 1998). Harker and Bramley (FEBS Lett. 448, 115-119, 1999) and Matthews and Wurtzel (Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 53, 396-400, 2000) disclosed that carotenoid production in such engineered E. coli strains could be increased by over-expressing the gene coding for 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase (DXPS), the first enzyme in the DXP pathway (E. coli possesses only the DXP pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis and does not use the mevalonate pathway (Lange et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 97, 13172-13177, 2000)). Harker and Bramley (FEBS. Lett., 448, 115-119, 1999) also disclosed an increase in the isoprenoid compound ubiquinone-8, in the cells overproducing DXPS. These results supported the hypothesis that limited availability of IPP, resulting from insufficient in vivo activity of DXPS, was limiting the production of carotenoids and other isoprenoid compounds in the engineered strains. Using a similar E. coli system, Kim and Keasling (Biotechnol. Bioeng., 72, 408-415, 2001) disclosed that the combined over-expression of the genes encoding DXPS and the second enzyme of the DXP pathway, DXP reductoisomerase (see FIG. 1A) gave higher carotenoid production than over-expression of just the gene encoding DXPS.

All of these studies were done in E. coli engineered to produce carotenoids. Accordingly, one disadvantage to these studies was that the amount of carotenoids produced by these recombinant E. coli strains were very low compared to the amounts produced by even non-recombinant microorganisms used for industrial production of carotenoids. Furthermore, improved carotenoid production in bacteria by genetic engineering of the IPP biosynthetic pathway has only been shown in organisms that utilize the DXP pathway for IPP formation. No similar studies have been reported for bacteria that produce IPP via the mevalonate pathway.

Metabolic engineering of the mevalonate pathway to improve production of isoprenoid compounds has been reported in yeast. For example, Millis et al. (International Patent Publication No. WO 00/01649) disclosed that production of isoprenoid compounds is increased in Saccharomyces cerevisiae when the gene coding for 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase, refer to FIG. 1A) is over-expressed. However, it has not been shown that this strategy improves isoprenoid production in bacteria, and in particular, it has not been shown that carotenoid production in bacteria can be improved by amplifying expression of mevalonate pathway genes. While it has been shown that some mevalonate pathway genes from eukaryotes (Campos et al., Biochem. J., 353, 59-67, 2001) and from the bacterium Streptomyces sp. strain CL190 (Takagi et al., J. Bacteriol., 182, 4153-4157, 2000) can be expressed in E. coli, no increase in isoprenoid production was reported in the strains.

In addition to the reactions that form IPP (via the DXP or mevalonate pathways) and the reactions that convert farnesyl pyrophosphate (FPP) to various other isoprenoids (e.g., carotenoids, quinones) (FIG. 1B), two other reactions are known to be involved in isoprenoid biosynthesis. IPP isomerase interconverts IPP and its isomer, dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) (FIG. 1B). Two forms of IPP isomerase exist, the type 1 enzyme is well known in eukaryotes and some bacteria, and the newly identified type 2 enzyme that is FMN- and NADP(H)-dependent (Kaneda et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98, 932-937, 2001).

Several reports disclose that in E. coli engineered to produce carotenoids, amplification of native or heterologous type 1 IPP isomerase (idi) genes stimulates carotenoid production (Kajiwara et al., Biochem. J., 324, 421-426, 1997; Verdoes and van Ooyen, Acta Bot. Gallica, 146, 43-53, 1999; Wang et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 62, 235-241, 1999). In one report (Wang et al., Biotechnol. Bioeng. 62, 235-241, 1999), it was further disclosed that over-expression of the ispA gene, encoding FPP synthase increased carotenoid production in an engineered carotenogenic strain of E. coli when combined with over-expression of the idi and crtE (GGPP synthase) genes. As is the case for the pathway of IPP biosynthesis, however, it has not been shown that over-expression of genes coding for IPP isomerase or FPP synthase improves carotenoid production in a naturally carotenogenic microorganism. Also, the levels of carotenoids produced in the E. coli strains described above are very low, and it has not been shown that these strategies work in an industrial microorganism where carotenoid production was already high.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In sum, there is no prior evidence that increased expression of gene(s) coding for enzymes of the mevalonate pathway can improve production of carotenoids in naturally carotenogenic bacteria or in naturally non-carotenogenic bacteria engineered to be carotenogenic.

The present invention provides an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 340 of SEQ ID NO:43, (b) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 349 of SEQ ID NO:45, (c) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 388 of SEQ ID NO:47, (d) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 378 of SEQ ID NO:49, (e) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 305 of SEQ ID NO:51, (f) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 332 of SEQ ID NO:53, (g) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53, (h) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53, the fragment having the activity of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase), mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, or diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase, (i) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe comprising at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42 or a complement of SEQ ID NO:42, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, HMG-CoA synthase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, or diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase; and (j) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NO:43, 45, 47, 49, 51 or 53.

The present invention also provides an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group of: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 287 of SEQ ID NO:159; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:159; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO:159, the fragment having the activity of farnesyl-diphosphate synthase (FPP synthase); (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe having at least 30 consecutive nucleotides spanning residues 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157 or a complement thereof, wherein the hybrid has the activity of FPP synthase; and (e) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NO: 159.

The present invention also provides an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group of: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 142 of SEQ ID NO:160; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:160; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 160, the fragment having the activity of 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXPS); (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe having at least 30 consecutive nucleotides spanning residues 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of DXPS; and (e) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NO:160.

The present invention also provides an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group of: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 390 of SEQ ID NO:178; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:178; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 178, the fragment having the activity of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase; (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe having at least 30 consecutive nucleotides spanning residues 1-1170 of SEQ ID NO:177 or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase; and (e) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NO:178.

The present invention also provides an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the group of: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 240 of SEQ ID NO:179; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:179; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO:179, the fragment having the activity of acetoacetyl-CoA reductase; (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe having at least 30 consecutive nucleotides spanning residues 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177 or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of acetoacetyl-CoA reductase; and (e) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NO:179.

The present invention also provides an isolated polynucleotide sequence selected from the following group: the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:42, variants of SEQ ID NO:42 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of SEQ ID NO:42 that encode a polypeptide having an activity selected from the group consisting of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase), mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe, the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42, or the complement of SEQ ID NO:42, which hybrid encodes a polypeptide having an activity selected from the group: HMG-CoA reductase, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, HMG-CoA synthase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase.

The present invention also provides an isolated polynucleotide sequence selected from the following group: the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a polypeptide having farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase activity, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase activity or a polypeptide having the activity of XseB, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:157, or the complement of SEQ ID NO:157, which hybrid encodes a polypeptide having FPP synthase activity, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase activity or the activity of XseB.

An isolated polynucleotide sequence is also provided that has a nucleotide sequence selected from the following group: SEQ ID NO:177, variants of SEQ ID NO:177 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of SEQ ID NO: 177 that encode a polypeptide having an activity selected from the group consisting of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:177, or the complement of SEQ ID NO:177, which hybrid encodes a polypeptide having an activity selected from the group: acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase.

An isolated polynucleotide sequence is also provided that has a nucleotide sequence selected from the following group: nucleotides spanning positions 59-292 of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 59-292 of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a polypeptide having a function of XseB, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides spanning positions 59-292 of SEQ ID NO:157, or the complement of such a sequence, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having a function of XseB.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide consists of nucleotides 59 to 292 of SEQ ID NO:157.

An isolated polynucleotide sequence is also provided that has a nucleotide sequence selected from the following group: nucleotides spanning positions 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a FPP synthase activity, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides spanning positions 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157, or the complement of such a sequence, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having FPP synthase activity.

Preferably, the isolated nucleotide sequence consists of nucleotides 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157.

Another isolated polynucleotide sequence is provided, which is selected from the following group: a nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain RI 534 codon usage table (Table 14), fragments of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a polypeptide having 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase activity, and polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157, or the complement of such a sequence, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase activity.

Another isolated polynucleotide sequence is provided, which has a nucleotide sequence selected from the group: SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:157, SEQ ID NO:177, and combinations thereof.

The invention also provides an expression vector containing any of the polynucleotide sequences set forth above. Particularly preferred expression vectors include, for example, pBBR-K-mev-op16-1, pBBR-K-mev-op16-2, pDS-mvaA, pDS-idi, pDS-hcs, pDS-mvk, pDS-pmk, pDS-mvd, pDS-His-mvaA, pDS-His-idi, pDS-His-hcs, pDS-His-mvk, pDS-His-pmk, pDS-His-mvd, pBBR-K-Zea4, pBBR-K-Zea4-up, pBBR-K-Zea4-down, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-idi, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-hcs, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-pmk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvd, pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3, pDS-His-phaA, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, and combinations thereof.

The invention further provides a cultured cell containing any of the polynucleotide sequences or combinations of such polynucleotide sequences set forth above, or a progeny of the cell, wherein the cell expresses a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide sequence.

The invention also provides novel Paracoccus strains including strains R-1506, R-1512, R1534, and R114.

A method of producing a carotenoid is also provided. The method includes culturing the cell according to the present invention under conditions permitting expression of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide sequence according to the present invention, and isolating the carotenoid from the cell or the medium of the cell.

A method of making a carotenoid-producing cell is also provided. This method includes introducing into a cell a polynucleotide sequence encoding an enzyme in the mevalonate pathway, which enzyme is expressed in the cell; and selecting a cell containing the polynucleotide sequence that produces a carotenoid at a level that is about 1.1-1,000 times the level of the carotenoid produced by the cell before introduction of the polynucleotide sequence.

The present invention also provides a method for engineering a bacterium to produce an isoprenoid compound, which method includes (a) culturing a parent bacterium in a medium under conditions permitting expression of an isoprenoid compound, and selecting a mutant bacterium from the culture medium that produces about 1.1-1,000 times more of an isoprenoid compound than the parent bacterium, (b) introducing into the mutant bacterium an expression vector containing a polynucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:42 operably linked to an expression control sequence, and (c) selecting a bacterium that contains the expression vector and produces at least about 1.1 times of an isoprenoid compound than the mutant in step (a).

Another embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) a sequence similiarity to SEQ ID NO:12 of >97% using a similarity matrix obtained from a homology calculation using GeneCompar v. 2.0 software with a gap penalty of 0%; (b) a homology to strain R-1512, R1534, R114 or R-1506 of >70% using DNA:DNA hybridization at 81.5° C.; (c) a G+C content of its genomic DNA that varies less than 1% from the G+C content of the genomic DNA of R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506; and (d) an average DNA fingerprint that clusters at about 58% similarity to strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506 using the AFLP procedure of Example 2, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

A further embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) 18:1w7c having at least about 75% of the total fatty acids of the cell membranes; (b) an inability to use adonitol, i-erythritol, gentiobiose, β-methylglucoside, D-sorbitol, xylitol and quinic acid as a carbon source for growth; and (c) an ability to use L-asparagine and L-aspartic acid as a carbon source for growth, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

Another embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) an ability to grow at 40° C.; (b) an ability to grow in a medium having 8% NaCl; (c) an ability to grow in a medium having a pH of 9.1; and (d) a yellow-orange colony pigmentation, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

DEFINITIONS

The terms “polypeptide,” “polypeptide sequence,” “amino acid,” and “amino acid sequence” are used interchangeably herein, and mean an oligopeptide, peptide, polypeptide, or protein sequence, or a fragment of any of these, as well as naturally occurring or synthetic molecules. In this context, “fragments,” “immnunogenic fragments,” or “antigenic fragments” refer to fragments of any of the polypeptides defined herein which are at least about 30 amino acids in length and which retain some biological activity or immunological activity of the polypeptide in question. Where “amino acid sequence” is recited herein to refer to an amino acid sequence of a naturally occurring protein molecule, “amino acid sequence” and like terms are not meant to limit the amino acid sequence to the complete native amino acid sequence associated with the recited protein molecule.

As used herein, an “isolated” polynucleotide (e.g., an RNA, DNA or a mixed polymer) is one which is substantially separated from other cellular components which naturally accompany a native sequence or polypeptide, e.g., ribosomes, polymerases, many other genome sequences and proteins. The term embraces a polynucleotide that has been removed from its naturally occurring environment, and includes recombinant or cloned DNA isolates and chemically synthesized analogs or analogs biologically synthesized by heterologous systems.

With respect to polypeptides, the term “isolated” means a protein or a polypeptide that has been separated from components that accompany it in its natural state. A monomeric protein is isolated when at least about 60 to 75% of a sample exhibits a single polypeptide sequence. An isolated protein will typically comprise about 60 to 90% W/W of a protein sample, more usually about 95%, and preferably will be over about 99% pure. Protein purity or homogeneity may be indicated by a number of means well known in the art, such as polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of a protein sample, followed by visualizing a single polypeptide band upon staining the gel. For certain purposes, using HPLC or other means well known in the art may provide higher resolution for purification.

As used herein, the term “biologically active,” refers to a protein having structural, regulatory, or biochemical functions of a naturally occurring molecule. Likewise, “immunologically active” refers to the capability of the natural, recombinant, or synthetic polypeptide, or of any oligopeptide thereof, to induce a specific immune response in appropriate animals or cells and to bind with specific antibodies.

The phrase “nucleic acid sequence” refers to a single or double-stranded polymer of deoxyribonucleotide or ribonucleotide bases read from the 5′ to the 3′ end. It includes chromosomal DNA, self-replicating plasmids, infectious polymers of DNA or RNA and DNA or RNA that performs a primarily structural role.

An “expression control sequence” is defined as an array of nucleic acid control sequences that direct transcription of an operably linked nucleic acid. An example of such an expression control sequence is a “promoter.” Promoters include necessary nucleic acid sequences near the start site of transcription. A promoter also optionally includes distal enhancer or repressor elements, which can be located as much as several thousand base pairs from the start site of transcription. A “constitutive” promoter is a promoter that is active under most environmental and developmental conditions. An “inducible” promoter is a promoter that is active under environmental or developmental regulation. The term “operably linked” refers to a functional linkage between a nucleic acid expression control sequence (such as a promoter or array of transcription factor binding sites) and a second nucleic acid sequence, wherein the expression control sequence directs transcription of the nucleic acid corresponding to the second sequence.

A polynucleotide sequence is “heterologous to” an organism or a second polynucleotide sequence if it originates from a foreign species, or, if from the same species, is modified from its original form. For example, a promoter operably linked to a heterologous coding sequence refers to a coding sequence from a species different from that from which the promoter was derived, or, if from the same species, a coding sequence which is different from any naturally occurring allelic variants.

In the case of both expression of transgenes and inhibition of endogenous genes (e.g., by antisense, or sense suppression) one of skill will recognize that the inserted polynucleotide sequence need not be identical, but may be only “substantially identical” to a sequence of the gene from which it was derived.

In the case where the inserted polynucleotide sequence is transcribed and translated to produce a functional polypeptide, one of skill will recognize that because of codon degeneracy a number of polynucleotide sequences will encode the same polypeptide. These variants are specifically within the scope of the present invention. In addition, the present invention specifically includes those sequences that are substantially identical (determined as described below) to each other and that encode polypeptides that are either mutants of wild type polypeptides or retain the function of the polypeptide (e.g., resulting from conservative substitutions of amino acids in the polypeptide). In addition, variants can be those that encode dominant negative mutants as described below.

Two nucleic acid sequences or polypeptides are said to be “identical” if the sequence of nucleotides or amino acid residues, respectively, in the two sequences is the same when aligned for maximum correspondence as described below. The terms “identical” or percent “identity,” in the context of two or more nucleic acids or polypeptide sequences, refer to two or more sequences or subsequences that are the same or have a specified percentage of amino acid residues or nucleotides that are the same, when compared and aligned for maximum correspondence over a comparison window, as measured using one of the following sequence comparison algorithms or by manual alignment and visual inspection. When percentage of sequence identity is used in reference to proteins or peptides, it is recognized that residue positions that are not identical often differ by conservative amino acid substitutions, where amino acids residues are substituted for other amino acid residues with similar chemical properties (e.g., charge or hydrophobicity) and therefore do not change the functional properties of the molecule. Where sequences differ in conservative substitutions, the percent sequence identity may be adjusted upwards to correct for the conservative nature of the substitution. Means for making this adjustment are well known to those of skill in the art. Typically this involves scoring a conservative substitution as a partial rather than a full mismatch, thereby increasing the percentage sequence identity. Thus, for example, where an identical amino acid is given a score of 1 and a non-conservative substitution is given a score of zero, a conservative substitution is given a score between zero and 1. The scoring of conservative substitutions is calculated according to, e.g., the algorithm of Meyers & Miller, Computer Applic. Biol. Sci. 4:11-17 (1988), e.g., as implemented in the program PC/GENE (Intelligenetics, Mountain View, Calif., USA).

The phrase “substantially identical,” in the context of two nucleic acids or polypeptides, refers to sequences or subsequences that have at least 60%, preferably 80%, most preferably 90-95%, nucleotide or amino acid residue identity when aligned for maximum correspondence over a comparison window as measured using one of the following sequence comparison algorithms or by manual alignment and visual inspection. This definition also refers to a sequence of which the complement of that sequence hybridizes to the test sequence.

For sequence comparison, typically one sequence acts as a reference sequence, to which test sequences are compared. When using a sequence comparison algorithm, test and reference sequences are entered into a computer, subsequence coordinates are designated, if necessary, and sequence algorithm program parameters are designated. Default program parameters can be used, or alternative parameters can be designated. The sequence comparison algorithm then calculates the percent sequence identities for the test sequences relative to the reference sequence, based on the program parameters.

A “comparison window,” as used herein, includes reference to a segment of any one of the number of contiguous positions selected from the group consisting of from 20 to 600, usually about 50 to about 200, more usually about 100 to about 150, in which a sequence may be compared to a reference sequence of the same number of contiguous positions after the two sequences are optimally aligned. Methods of alignment of sequences for comparison are well known in the art. Optimal alignment of sequences for comparison can be conducted, e.g., by the local homology algorithm of Smith & Waterman, Adv. Appl. Math. 2:482 (1981), by the homology alignment algorithm of Needleman & Wunsch, J. Mol. Biol. 48:443 (1970), by the search for similarity method of Pearson & Lipman, Proc. Nat'l, Acad. Sci. USA 85:2444 (1988), by computerized implementations of these algorithms (GAP, BESTFIT, FASTA, and TFASTA in the Wisconsin Genetics Software Package, Genetics Computer Group, 575 Science Dr., Madison, Wis.), or by manual alignment and visual inspection.

One example of a useful algorithm is PILEUP. PILEUP creates a multiple sequence alignment from a group of related sequences using progressive, pairwise alignments to show relationship and percent sequence identity. It also plots a tree or dendogram showing the clustering relationships used to create the alignment. PILEUP uses a simplification of the progressive alignment method of Feng & Doolittle, J. Mol. Evol. 35:351-360 (1987). The method used is similar to the method described by Higgins & Sharp, CABIOS 5:151-153 (1989). The program can align up to 300 sequences, each of a maximum length of 5,000 nucleotides or amino acids. The multiple alignment procedure begins with the pairwise alignment of the two most similar sequences, producing a cluster of two aligned sequences. This cluster is then aligned to the next most related sequence or cluster of aligned sequences. Two clusters of sequences are aligned by a simple extension of the pairwise alignment of two individual sequences. The final alignment is achieved by a series of progressive, pairwise alignments. The program is run by designating specific sequences and their amino acid or nucleotide coordinates for regions of sequence comparison and by designating the program parameters. For example, a reference sequence can be compared to other test sequences to determine the percent sequence identity relationship using the following parameters: default gap weight (3.00), default gap length weight (0.10), and weighted end gaps.

Another example of an algorithm that is suitable for determining percent sequence identity and sequence similarity is the BLAST algorithm, which is described in Altschul et al., J. Mol. Biol. 215:403-410 (1990). Software for performing BLAST analyses is publicly available through the National Center for Biotechnology Information (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/). This algorithm involves first identifying high scoring sequence pairs (HSPs) by identifying short words of length W in the query sequence, which either match or satisfy some positive-valued threshold score T when aligned with a word of the same length in a database sequence. T is referred to as the neighborhood word score threshold (Altschul et al., supra). These initial neighborhood word hits act as seeds for initiating searches to find longer HSPs containing them. The word hits are extended in both directions along each sequence for as far as the cumulative alignment score can be increased. Extension of the word hits in each direction are halted when: the cumulative alignment score falls off by the quantity X from its maximum achieved value; the cumulative score goes to zero or below, due to the accumulation of one or more negative-scoring residue alignments; or the end of either sequence is reached. The BLAST algorithm parameters W, T, and X determine the sensitivity and speed of the alignment. The BLAST program uses as defaults a wordlength (W) of 11, the BLOSUM62 scoring matrix (see Henikoff & Henikoff, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:10915 (1989)) alignments (B) of 50, expectation (E) of 10, M=5, N=−4, and a comparison of both strands.

The BLAST algorithm also performs a statistical analysis of the similarity between two sequences (see, e.g., Karlin & Altschul, Proc. Nat'l. Acad. Sci. USA 90:5873-5787 (1993)). One measure of similarity provided by the BLAST algorithm is the smallest sum probability (P(N)), which provides an indication of the probability by which a match between two nucleotide or amino acid sequences would occur by chance. For example, a nucleic acid is considered similar to a reference sequence if the smallest sum probability in a comparison of the test nucleic acid to the reference nucleic acid is less than about 0.2, more preferably less than about 0.01, and most preferably less than about 0.001.

“Conservatively modified variants” applies to both amino acid and nucleic acid sequences. With respect to particular nucleic acid sequences, conservatively modified variants refers to those nucleic acids which encode identical or essentially identical amino acid sequences, or where the nucleic acid does not encode an amino acid sequence, to essentially identical sequences. Because of the degeneracy of the genetic code, a large number of functionally identical nucleic acid codons encode any given protein. For instance, the codons GCA, GCC, GCG and GCU all encode the amino acid alanine. Thus, at every position where an alanine is specified by a codon, the codon can be altered to any of the corresponding codons described without altering the encoded polypeptide. Such nucleic acid variations are “silent variations,” which are one species of conservatively modified variations. Every nucleic acid sequence herein that encodes a polypeptide also describes every possible silent variation of the nucleic acid. One of skill will recognize that each codon in a nucleic acid (except AUG, which is ordinarily the only codon for methionine) can be modified to yield a functionally identical molecule. Accordingly, each silent variation of a nucleic acid that encodes a polypeptide is implicit in each described sequence.

As to amino acid sequences, one of skill will recognize that individual substitutions, deletions or additions to a nucleic acid, or substitutions to a peptide, polypeptide, or protein sequence which alters a single amino acid or a small percentage of amino acids (i.e. less than 20%, such as 15%, 10%, 5%, 4%, 3%, 2% or 1%) in the encoded sequence is a “conservatively modified variant” where the alteration results in the substitution of an amino acid with a chemically similar amino acid. Conservative substitution tables providing functionally similar amino acids are well known in the art.

The following six groups each contain amino acids that are conservative substitutions for one another:

-   -   Alanine (A), Serine (S), Threonine (T);     -   Aspartic acid (D), Glutamic acid (E);     -   Asparagine (N), Glutamine (Q);     -   Arginine (R), Lysine (K);     -   Isoleucine (I), Leucine (L), Methionine (M), Valine (V); and     -   Phenylalanine (F), Tyrosine (Y), Tryptophan (W). (see, e.g.,         Creighton, Proteins (1984)).

An indication that two nucleic acid sequences or polypeptides are substantially identical is that the polypeptide encoded by the first nucleic acid is immunologically cross reactive with the antibodies raised against the polypeptide encoded by the second nucleic acid. Thus, a polypeptide is typically substantially identical to a second polypeptide, for example, where the two peptides differ only by conservative substitutions. Another indication that two nucleic acid sequences are substantially identical is that the two molecules or their complements hybridize to each other under stringent conditions, as described below.

The phrase “specifically hybridizes to” refers to the binding, duplexing, or hybridizing of a molecule only to a particular nucleotide sequence under stringent hybridization conditions when that sequence is present in a complex mixture (e.g., total cellular or library DNA or RNA).

The phrase “stringent hybridization conditions” refers to conditions under which a probe will hybridize to its target sequence, typically in a complex mixture of nucleic acid sequences, but to no other sequences. Stringent conditions are sequence-dependent and will be different in different circumstances. Longer sequences hybridize specifically at higher temperatures. An extensive guide to the hybridization of nucleic acids is found in Tijssen, Techniques in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology-Hybridization with Nucleic Probes, “Overview of Principles of Hybridization and the Strategy of Nucleic Acid Assays” (1993). Generally, highly stringent conditions are selected to be about 5-10° C. lower than the thermal melting point (T_(m)) for the specific sequence at a defined ionic strength and pH. Low stringency conditions are generally selected to be about 15-30° C. below the T_(m). The T_(m) is the temperature (under defined ionic strength, pH, and nucleic acid concentration) at which 50% of the probes complementary to the target hybridize to the target sequence at equilibrium (as the target sequences are present in excess, at T_(m), 50% of the probes are occupied at equilibrium). Stringent conditions will be those in which the salt concentration is less than about 1.0M sodium ion, typically about 0.01 to 1.0M sodium ion concentration (or other salts) at pH 7.0 to 8.3 and the temperature is at least about 30° C. for short probes (e.g., 10 to 50 nucleotides) and at least about 60° C. for long probes (e.g., greater than 50 nucleotides). Stringent conditions may also be achieved with the addition of destabilizing agents such as formamide. For selective or specific hybridization, a positive signal is at least two times background, preferably 10 times background hybridization.

Nucleic acids that do not hybridize to each other under stringent conditions are still substantially identical if the polypeptides that they encode are substantially identical. This occurs, for example, when a copy of a nucleic acid is created using the maximum codon degeneracy permitted by the genetic code. In such cases, the nucleic acids typically hybridize under moderately stringent hybridization conditions.

In the present invention, genomic DNA or cDNA containing nucleic acids of the invention can be identified in standard Southern blots under stringent conditions using the nucleic acid sequences disclosed here. For the purposes of this disclosure, suitable stringent conditions for such hybridizations are those which include hybridization in a buffer of 40% formamide, 1M NaCl, 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at 37° C., and at least one wash in 0.2×SSC at a temperature of at least about 50° C., usually about 55° C. to about 60° C., for 20 minutes, or equivalent conditions. A positive hybridization is at least twice background. Those of ordinary skill will readily recognize that alternative hybridization and wash conditions can be utilized to provide conditions of similar stringency.

A further indication that two polynucleotides are substantially identical is if the reference sequence, amplified by a pair of oligonucleotide primers, can then be used as a probe under stringent hybridization conditions to isolate the test sequence from a cDNA or genomic library, or to identify the test sequence in, e.g., a northern or Southern blot.

As used herein, the phrase “expression vector” is a replicatable vehicle that carries, and is capable of mediating the expression of, a DNA sequence encoding the polynucleotide sequences set forth herein.

In the present context, the term “replicatable” means that the vector is able to replicate in a given type of host cell into which it has been introduced. Immediately upstream of the polynucleotide sequence(s) of interest, there may be provided a sequence coding for a signal peptide, the presence of which ensures secretion of the encoded polypeptide expressed by host cells harboring the vector. The signal sequence may be the one naturally associated with the selected polynucleotide sequence or of another origin.

The vector may be any vector that may conveniently be subjected to recombinant DNA procedures, and the choice of vector will often depend on the host cell into which it is to be introduced. Thus, the vector may be an autonomously replicating vector, i.e. a vector that exists as an extrachromosomal entity, the replication of which is independent of chromosomal replication; examples of such a vector are a plasmid, phage, cosmid or mini-chromosome. Alternatively, the vector may be one which, when introduced in a host cell, is integrated in the host cell genome and is replicated together with the chromosome(s) into which it has been integrated. Examples of suitable vectors are shown in the examples. The expression vector of the invention may carry any of the DNA sequences of the invention as defined below and be used for the expression of any of the polypeptides of the invention defined below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A shows the DXP and mevalonate pathways for IPP biosynthesis.

FIG. 1B shows the pathway for zeaxanthin biosynthesis from IPP in Paracoccus sp.

FIG. 2 shows the nucleotide sequence of the gene coding for 16S rDNA in Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512 (ATCC 21588) (SEQ ID NO:12).

FIG. 3 shows a phylogenetic tree depicting the phylogenetic relatedness between Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966, and other members of the genus Paracoccus.

FIG. 4 shows an AFLP™ analysis of Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, RI 534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966, and Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) using primer combinations A, B and D. Numbers are the % similarities at each branchpoint on the dendrogram.

FIG. 5 shows an AFLP™ analysis of Paracoccus sp strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966, and Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) using primer combinations I, G and H. Numbers are the % similarities at each branchpoint on the dendrogram.

FIG. 6 shows a graph of the growth of Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512 (triangles), R1534 (squares), R114 (diamonds) and R-1506 (circles) in ME medium.

FIG. 7 shows the structure of zeaxanthin with the numbering of carbon atoms used herein.

FIG. 8 shows the ¹³C NMR signals of purified ¹³C-labeled zeaxanthin produced by Paracoccus sp. strain R114 grown in the presence of: (A), [U-¹³C₆] glucose; (B), [1-¹³C₁] glucose; (C), [2-13C₁] glucose; and (D), [6-¹³C₁] glucose.

FIG. 9 depicts the reconstructed labeling patterns of isoprenoid precursor units (DMAPP and IPP, refer to FIG. 1B) of zeaxanthin. The four sets of results correlate to growth of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 in the presence of (A), [U-¹³C₆] glucose; (B), [1-¹³C₁] glucose; (C), [2-¹³C₁] glucose; and (D), [6-¹³C₁] glucose. Symbols ♦ and ● indicate carbon atoms enriched from [2-¹³C₁] glucose and [6-¹³C₁] glucose, respectively. Bold bars indicate contiguous ¹³C atoms from [U-¹³C₆] glucose.

FIG. 10 shows the predicted labeling patterns for pyruvate and acetyl-CoA derived from glucose metabolism via (A) glycolysis or (B) the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. Symbols *, ♦ and ● indicate carbon atoms enriched from [1-¹³C₁] glucose, [2-¹³C₁] glucose and [6-¹³C₁] glucose, respectively. Bold bars indicate contiguous ¹³C atoms from [U-¹³C₆] glucose.

FIG. 11 shows the predicted labeling patterns for IPP produced via the mevalonate or DXP pathways. Schemes A and B show the expected labeling patterns for IPP produced from acetyl-CoA through the mevalonate pathway. Schemes A and B further assume glucose metabolism via glycolysis and the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, respectively. Schemes C and D assume IPP production via the DXP pathway and further assume glucose metabolism via glycolysis (C) or the Entner-Doudoroff pathway (D). Symbols are as described in the legend to FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 shows the expected labeling patterns for zeaxanthin produced from IPP. Schemes A-D correspond to Schemes A-D in FIG. 11. Scheme E shows the actual observed labeling patterns of zeaxanthin purified from batch fermentations using Paracoccus sp. strain R114 grown in the presence of the glucoses labeled in different positions. Symbols are as described in the legend to FIG. 10.

FIG. 13 is a restriction enzyme map of the mevalonate operon (SEQ ID NO:42) from Paracoccus sp., strain R114. The cloned restriction fragments and PCR fragments are represented as boxes. The hatched box represents the original PCR fragment obtained with degenerate primers. Arrows indicate the mevalonate pathway and idi genes, and the position of the first nucleotide of the start codon and the last nucleotide of the stop codon is given below each gene designation. Sites for the restriction endonucleases EcoRI, BamHI, SalI and NdeI are shown.

FIGS. 14A-14E show the DNA sequence of the mevalonate operon (SEQ ID NOs:42, 44, 46, 48, 50, and 52) from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 and amino acid sequences (SEQ ID NOs:43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53) of the encoded proteins.

FIG. 15 shows the arrangement of genes in known bacterial mevalonate pathway gene clusters, as well as in strain R114. Genes are represented by patterned arrows as indicated in the Figure. The drawing is not to scale. The vertical bar in the lower six species indicates that the genes on the left and the right are not linked.

FIG. 16 shows an amino acid alignment of bacterial class I HMG-CoA reductases of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (SEQ ID NO:43), Streptomyces sp. Strain CL190 (SEQ ID NO:54), S. griseolosporeus (SEQ ID NO:55), and Streptomyces sp. strain KO-3899 (SEQ ID NO:56). White symbols on black background indicate regions of 100% identity across all depicted species. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are q9z9n4 for Streptomyces sp. strain CL190, q9znh1 for S. griseolosporeus and q9znh0 for Streptomyces sp. strain KO-3899.

FIGS. 17A-17B show an amino acid alignment of isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (SEQ ID NO:45) with close homologs (SEQ ID NOs:57-73). Amino acid residues, which are identical in all depicted enzymes, are shown as white symbols on black background. Residues identical in at least fifteen sequences are shown as white on dark gray and identical amino acids in ten to fourteen proteins are indicated in black with a light gray background. The order of the sequences does not reflect the degree of homology. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are given after the organism's name in parentheses.

FIGS. 18A-18B show an amino acid alignment of bacterial HMG-CoA synthases (SEQ ID NOs:47 and 74-84). Amino acid residues, which are identical in all depicted enzymes, are shown as white symbols on black background. Residues identical in at least eight sequences are shown as white on dark gray and identical amino acids in six or seven proteins are indicated in black with a light gray background. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are given after each sequence in parentheses. The first 43 amino acids of the sequence from Streptomyces griseolosporeus are missing in the database version.

FIG. 19 shows an amino acid alignment of bacterial mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylases. (SEQ ID NOs:53 and 85-94). Amino acid residues, which are identical in all depicted enzymes, are shown as white symbols on black background. Residues identical in at least eight sequences are shown as white on dark gray and identical amino acids in six or seven proteins are indicated in black with a light gray background. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are given after each sequence in parentheses.

FIGS. 20A-20B show an amino acid alignment of bacterial mevalonate kinases (SEQ ID NOs:49 and 95-104). Amino acid residues, which are identical in all depicted enzymes, are shown as white symbols on black background. Residues identical in at least eight sequences are shown as white on dark gray and identical amino acids in six or seven proteins are indicated in black with a light gray background. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are given after each sequence in parentheses.

FIGS. 21A-21B show an amino acid alignment of bacterial phosphomevalonate kinases (SEQ ID NOs:51 and 105-114). Amino acid residues, which are identical in all depicted enzymes, are shown as white symbols on black background. Residues identical in at least eight sequences are shown as white on dark gray and identical amino acids in six or seven proteins are indicated in black with a light gray background. EMBL/GenBank/DDBJ database accession numbers are given after each sequence in parentheses.

FIG. 22 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mvaA gene product, HMG-CoA reductase, in E. coli M15. Lane 1, M15/pDS-mvaA (uninduced); Lane 2, M15/pDS-mvaA (induced); Lane 3, M15/pDS-His-mvaA (uninduced); Lane 4, M15/pDS-His-mvaA (induced). Arrow indicates overproduced HMG-CoA reductase in M15/pDS-mvaA.

FIG. 23 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 idi gene product, IPP isomerase, in E. coli M15. Lane 1, M15/pDS-idi (uninduced); Lane 2, M15/pDS-idi (induced); Lane 3, M15/pDS-His-idi (uninduced); Lane 4, M15/pDS-His-idi (induced). Arrows indicates overproduced IPP isomerase in M15/pDS-idi and M15/pDS-His-idi.

FIG. 24 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 hcs gene product, HMG-CoA synthase, in E. coli M15. Lanes 1-3, M15/pDS-His-hcs (induced); lanes 4-6, M15/pDS-His-hcs (uninduced). Arrow indicates overproduced HMG-CoA synthase.

FIG. 25 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 pmk gene product, phosphomevalonate kinase, in E. coli M15. Lanes 1 and 2, M15/pDS-His-pmk (uninduced); lanes 3 and 4, M15/pDS-His-pmk (induced). Arrow indicates overproduced phosphomevalonate kinase.

FIG. 26 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mvk gene product, mevalonate kinase, in E. coli M15. Lanes 2-5, M15/pDS-His-mvk (induced for 30, 60, 120 and 240 min., respectively); lanes 1 and 6, uninduced controls (sampled at 30 min. and 240 min., respectively). Arrow indicates overproduced mevalonate kinase.

FIG. 27 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mvd gene product, mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase, in E. coli M15. Lanes 1 and 2, M15/pDS-His-mvd (uninduced); lanes 3 and 4, M15/pDS-His-mvd (induced). Arrow indicates overproduced mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase.

FIG. 28 shows plasmid maps of pBBR-K-Zea4, pBBR-K-Zea4-down, and pBBR-K-Zea4-up.

FIG. 29 depicts the construction of plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3.

FIG. 30 shows DNA and amino acid sequences of the ispA locus from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. The sequence of the cloned NcoI-BamHI fragment is shown (SEQ ID NO:157). The NcoI and BamHI sites and the amino acid sequences of XseB (SEQ ID NO:158), IspA (SEQ ID NO:159), and the N-terminus of Dxs (SEQ ID NO:160) are indicated. The start codon of ispA may be GTG or ATG resulting in two or one methionine residues, respectively, at the amino-terminus of the native IspA.

FIG. 31 shows the DNA sequence (SEQ ID NO:175) and deduced amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:176) of the atoB gene from Paracoccus sp. strain R1534.

FIG. 32 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 atoB gene product, acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, in E. coli M15. Overproduction of the atoB gene product is shown in the induced (+IPTG) lanes compared to the uninduced (−IPTG) lanes. Both the native (M15/pDS-atoB) and His-tagged (M15/pDS/his-atoB) forms were overproduced.

FIGS. 33A-33B show the DNA sequence (SEQ ID NO:177) of the phaAB gene cluster from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 and the deduced amino acid sequences of the acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase (PhaA) (SEQ ID NO:178) and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase (PhaB) (SEQ ID NO:179) proteins. An inverted repeat between the genes, constituting a putative transcriptional stop, is underlined.

FIG. 34 shows overproduction of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 phaA gene product, acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, in E. coli M15. Lanes 1 and 2, M15/pDS-His-phaA (uninduced); lanes 3 and 4, M15/pDS-His-phaA (induced). Arrow indicates overproduced acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase.

FIG. 35 shows the polylinker regions of plasmids pOCV-1 through -4. Both strands of all four polylinker regions are shown (upper strand: 5′→3′, lower strand: 3′→5′) (SEQ ID NOs:190-197). The recognition sequences of the restriction endonucleases BsgI (GTGCAG (16/14)), BseMII (CTCAG (10/8)), NdeI (CA/TATG), BamHI (G/GATCC), BseRI (GAGGAG (10/8)) and GsuI (CTGGAG (16/14)) are indicated. The cleavage sites of the first two enzymes are within the NdeI site, between T and G in the upper strand and between A and T in the lower strand. The cleavage sites of the last two enzymes are before the BamHI site, between T and C in the upper strand and between G and T in the lower strand. The BseRI site in pOCV-1 and pOCV-4 is not unique and cannot be used for operon construction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One embodiment of the present invention is an isolated polypeptide that includes an amino acid sequence selected from the following group: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 340 of SEQ ID NO:43; (b) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 349 of SEQ ID NO:45; (c) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 388 of SEQ ID NO:47; (d) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 378 of SEQ ID NO:49; (e) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 305 of SEQ ID NO:51; (f) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 332 of SEQ ID NO:53; (g) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53; (h) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of a polypeptide selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53, the fragment having the activity of hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase), mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, or diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase; (i) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe comprising at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42 or a complement of SEQ ID NO:42, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of HMG-CoA reductase, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, HMG-CoA synthase, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, or diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase; and (j) a conservatively modified variant of SEQ ID NOs:43, 45, 47, 49, 51 or 53.

As noted above, the present invention includes SEQ ID Nos: 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53, which are polypeptide sequences that correspond to the following enzymes of the mevalonate pathway: hydroxymethyl glutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA) reductase, isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) isomerase, HMG-CoA synthase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase, respectively. The present invention also includes at least 30 contiguous amino acids of each identified sequence or a sufficient number of contiguous amino acids to define a biologically active molecule.

The present invention also includes fragments of a polypeptide selected from SEQ ID NOs: 43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53. The fragment should be at least about 30 amino acids in length but must have the activity of the identified polypeptide, e.g., in the case of SEQ ID NO:43, a fragment thereof that falls within the scope of the present invention has the activity of HMG-CoA reductase. As used herein, a measure of activity of the respective fragments is set forth in Example 1. A fragment having an activity above background in the assays set forth in Example 1 is considered to be biologically active and within the scope of the present invention.

The present invention also includes an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe that contains at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42 (i.e., the mevalonate operon) or a complement of SEQ ID NO:42. The polynucleotide must encode at least one of the enzymes in the mevalonate pathway. For purposes of the present invention, a “hybridization probe” is a polynucleotide sequence containing from about 10-9066 nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42.

In this embodiment, the isolated polypeptide may have the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:43, SEQ ID NO:45, SEQ ID NO:47, SEQ ID NO:49, SEQ ID NO:51 or SEQ ID NO:53. Alternatively, the isolated polypeptide may contain about 30 contiguous amino acids selected from an area of the respective amino acids sequences that have the least identity when compared to an enzyme with the same function from different species. (See e.g., FIGS. 16-21). Thus, for example, a polypeptide of the present invention may include amino acids 68-97 of SEQ ID NO:43, 1-30 of SEQ ID NO:45, 269-298 of SEQ ID NO:47, 109-138 of SEQ ID NO:49, 198-227 of SEQ. ID NO:51 or 81-110 of SEQ ID NO:53.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 287 of SEQ ID NO:159; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:159; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO:159, the fragment having the activity of farnesyl-diphosphate synthase (FPP synthase); (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe containing at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the ispA gene (i.e., nucleotides 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of FPP synthase; and (e) conservatively modified variants of SEQ ID NO:159.

Thus, in this embodiment the amino acid may be encoded by the entire open reading frame that encodes FPP synthase, i.e, residues 1-287 of SEQ ID NO:159, at least 30 contiguous residues thereof, or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:159 that has FPP synthase activity as measured by the assay set forth in Example 1. Furthermore, this embodiment of the invention also includes amino acid sequence(s) encoded by polynucleotide(s) that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe that includes at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the ispA gene (i.e., nucleotides 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has FPP synthase activity as defined above.

In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:159.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from the following group: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 142 of SEQ ID NO:160; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:160; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO:160, the fragment having the activity of 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXPS); (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe containing at least 30 consecutive nucleotides spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of DXPS; and (e) conservatively modified variants of SEQ ID NO:160.

Thus, in this embodiment the amino acid may be encoded by the entire open reading frame that encodes DXPS, i.e, residues 1-142 of SEQ ID NO:160, at least 30 contiguous residues thereof, or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:160 that has DXPS activity as measured by as measured by the assay set forth in Example 1. Furthermore, this embodiment of the invention also includes amino acid sequence(s) encoded by polynucleotide(s) that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe that includes at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the DXPS gene (i.e., nucleotides 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has DXPS activity as defined above.

In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:160.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 390 of SEQ ID NO:178; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:178; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO:178, the fragment having the activity of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase; (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe containing at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the phaA gene (i.e., nucleotides 1-1179 of SEQ ID NO:177) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, and (e) conservatively modified variants of SEQ ID NO:178.

Thus, in this embodiment the amino acid may be encoded by the entire open reading frame that encodes acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, i.e, residues 1-143 of SEQ ID NO:178, at least 30 contiguous residues thereof, or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:178 that has acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity as measured by the assay set forth in Example 1. Furthermore, this embodiment of the invention also includes amino acid sequence(s) encoded by polynucleotide(s) that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe that includes at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the phaA gene (i.e., nucleotides 1-1170 of SEQ ID NO:177), or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity as defined above.

In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:178.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polypeptide having an amino acid sequence selected from: (a) an amino acid sequence shown as residues 1 to 240 of SEQ ID NO:179; (b) at least 30 contiguous amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:179; (c) an amino acid sequence of a fragment of a polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:179, the fragment having the activity of acetoacetyl-CoA reductase; (d) an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe containing at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the phaB gene (i.e., nucleotides 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has the activity of acetoacetyl-CoA reductase; and (e) conservatively modified variants of SEQ ID NO:179.

Thus, in this embodiment the amino acid may be encoded by the entire open reading frame that encodes acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, i.e, residues 1-240 of SEQ ID NO:179, at least 30 contiguous residues thereof, or a fragment of SEQ ID NO:179 that has acetoacetyl-CoA reductase activity as measured by the assay set forth in Example 1. Furthermore, this embodiment of the invention also includes amino acid sequence(s) encoded by polynucleotide(s) that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe that includes at least 30 consecutive nucleotides of the phaB gene (i.e., nucleotides 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177) or a complement thereof, wherein the polypeptide has acetoacetyl-CoA reductase activity as defined above.

In a preferred embodiment, the polypeptide has the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:179.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polynucleotide sequence having the nucleotide sequence of the mevalonate operon (SEQ ID NO:42), variants of SEQ ID NO:42 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of SEQ ID NO:42. The variants and fragments of SEQ ID NO:42 must encode a polypeptide having an activity selected from: hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase activity, hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase), mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe, the nucleotide sequence of which consists of from about 10 to about 9066 nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42, preferably at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:42, or a complement of such sequences, which hybrid encodes a polypeptide having an activity selected from: HMG-CoA reductase, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase, HMG-CoA synthase, mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase.

This embodiment also includes isolated polynucleotide sequences spanning the following residues of SEQ ID NO:42: 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887, 7880 to 8878. Fragments of these sequences are also within the scope of the invention, so long as they encode a polypeptide having HMG-CoA reductase activity, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase activity, HMG-CoA synthase activity, mevalonate kinase activity, phosphomevalonate kinase activity, and diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase activity, respectively.

This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe selected from a nucleotide sequence which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of the following residues of SEQ ID NO:42: 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887, 7880 to 8878 or a complement thereof, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having HMG-CoA reductase activity, isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase activity, HMG-CoA synthase activity, mevalonate kinase activity, phosphomevalonate kinase activity, or diphosphomevalonate decarboxylase activity, respectively.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide consists of nucleotides 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887 or 7880 to 8878 of SEQ ID NO:42.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polynucleotide sequence having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a polypeptide having farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase activity, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase activity or the activity of XseB. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:157, or the complement of SEQ ID NO:157, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having FPP synthase activity, 1-deoxy-D-xylulose 5-phosphate synthase activity or the activity of XseB.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide consists of nucleotides 59-292, 295-1158 or 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polynucleotide sequence having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:177, variants of SEQ ID NO:177 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of SEQ ID NO:177 that encode a polypeptide having an activity selected from acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:177, or a complement thereof, which hybrid encodes a polypeptide having an activity selected from the group consisting of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase.

In this embodiment the isolated polynucleotide sequence may include nucleotides 1 to 1170 of SEQ ID NO:177, variants of SEQ ID NO:177 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of SEQ ID NO:177 that encode a polypeptide having acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of nucleotides 1 to 1170 of SEQ ID NO:177, or a complement thereof, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide sequence consists of nucleotides 1-1170 of SEQ ID NO:177.

In this embodiment, the isolated polynucleotide sequence may alternatively be nucleotides 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177, variants of SEQ ID NO:177 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of SEQ ID NO:177 that encode a polypeptide having acetoacetyl-CoA reductase activity. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides of nucleotides 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177, or a complement thereof, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having acetoacetyl-CoA reductase activity.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide consists of nucleotides 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177.

Another embodiment of the invention is an isolated polynucleotide sequence having the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157, variants of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 containing one or more substitutions according to the Paracoccus sp. strain 1534 codon usage table (see Table 14) or fragments of the nucleotide sequence spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 that encode a polypeptide having 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase activity. This embodiment also includes polynucleotide sequences that hybridize under stringent conditions, as defined above, to a hybridization probe the nucleotide sequence of which consists of at least 30 contiguous nucleotides spanning positions 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157, or a complement thereof, wherein the hybrid encodes a polypeptide having 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase activity.

Preferably, the isolated polynucleotide consists of nucleotides 1185 to 1610 of SEQ ID NO:157.

In another embodiment of the invention, the isolated polynucleotide sequence has a nucleotide sequence selected from SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ. ID NO:157, SEQ ID NO:177, and combinations thereof. As used herein, the phrase “and combinations thereof” when used in reference to nucleotide sequences means that any combination of the recited sequences may be combined to form the isolated polynucleotide sequence. Moreover, in the present invention, multiple copies of the same sequence, i.e., concatamers may be used. Likewise, and as set forth in more detail below, multiple copies of plasmids containing the same polynucleotide sequence may be transferred into suitable host cells.

The present invention also includes expression vectors as defined above. The expression vectors include one or more copies of each of the polynucleotide sequences set forth above. The expression vectors of the present invention may contain any of the polynucleotide sequences defined herein, such as for example SEQ ID NO:42, or the following residues of SEQ ID NO:42: 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887, 7880 to 8878, as well as residues 59-292, 295-1158 or 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 and residues 1-1170 or 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177. The expression vectors may contain combinations of the polynucleotide sequences identified herein, such as for example, SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:157, and SEQ ID NO:177.

The polynucleotide sequences in the expression vectors may optionally be operably linked to an expression control sequence as defined above and exemplified in the Examples.

The present invention also includes for example, the following expression vectors: pBBR-K-mev-op16-1, pBBR-K-mev-op16-2, pDS-mvaA, pDS-idi, pDS-hcs, pDS-mvk, pDS-pmk, pDS-mvd, pDS-His-mvaA, pDS-His-idi, pDS-His-hcs, pDS-His-mvk, pDS-His-pmk, pDS-His-mvd, pBBR-K-Zea4, pBBR-K-Zea4-up, pBBR-K-Zea4-down, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-idi, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-hcs, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-pmk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvd, pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3, pDS-His-phaA, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, and combinations thereof. These expression vectors are defined in more detail in the examples below. Moreover, the present invention also includes any expression vector that contains one of the sequences defined herein, which expression vector is used to express an isoprenoid compound, such as a carotenoid, preferably zeaxanthin, in a suitable host cell.

The present invention also includes cultured cells containing one or more of the polynucleotide sequences and/or one or more of the expression vectors disclosed herein. As used herein, a “cultured cell” includes any cell capable of growing under defined conditions and expressing one or more of polypeptides encoded by a polynucleotide of the present invention. Preferably, the cultured cell is a yeast, fungus, bacterium, or alga. More preferably, the cultured cell is a Paracoccus, Flavobacterium, Agrobacterium, Alcaligenes, Erwinia, E. coli or B. subtilis. Even more preferably, the cell is a Paracoccus, such as for example, R-1506, R-1512, R1534 or R114. The present invention also includes the progeny of any of the cells identified herein that express a polypeptide disclosed herein. In the present invention, a cell is a progeny of another cell if its AFLP DNA fingerprint is indistinguishable using the conditions set forth in Example 2 from the fingerprint of the putative parental cell.

Thus, the cultured cells according to the present invention may contain, for example, SEQ ID NO:42, or the following residues of SEQ ID NO:42: 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887, 7880 to 8878, as well as residues 59-292, 295-1158 or 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 and residues 1-1170 or 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177. These sequences may be transferred to the cells alone or as part of an expression vector. These sequences also may optionally be operatively linked to expression control sequence(s). The cultured cells may also contain combinations of the polynucleotide sequences identified herein, such as for example, SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:157, and SEQ ID NO:177.

The cultured cells according to the present invention may further contain polynucleotides that encode one or more enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. (See e.g., FIG. 1 b). For example, the cultured cells according to the present invention may contain one or more copies of SEQ ID NOs:180, 182, and 184 alone or in combination with any of the polynucleotide sequences identified herein. Thus, the polynucleotide sequences disclosed herein may be transferred into a cultured cell alone or in combination with another polynucleotide sequence that would provide enhanced production of the target isoprenoid compound, such as, for example, carotenoids like zeaxanthin or astaxanthin. In this regard, the present invention includes the use of any polynucleotide encoding, for example, a polypeptide involved in carotenoid biosynthesis, such as GGPP synthase, β-carotene-β4-oxygenase (ketolase), and/or β-carotene hydroxylase. In addition, combinations of polynucleotides encoding polypeptides involved in carotenoid biosynthesis may be used in combination with one or more of the polynucleotides identified herein on the same or different expression vectors. Such constructs may be transferred to a cultured cell according to the present invention to provide a cell that expresses an isoprenoid of interest.

For example, a cultured cell according to the present invention may contain one or more of the following expression vectors: pBBR-K-mev-op16-1, pBBR-K-mev-op16-2, pDS-mvaA, pDS-idi, pDS-hcs, pDS-mvk, pDS-pmk, pDS-mvd, pDS-His-mvaA, pDS-His-idi, pDS-His-hcs, pDS-His-mvk, pDS-His-pmk, pDS-His-mvd, pBBR-K-Zea4, pBBR-K-Zea4-up, pBBR-K-Zea4-down, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-idi, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-hcs, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-pmk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvd, pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3, pDS-His-phaA, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, and combinations thereof.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method of producing a carotenoid. In this method, a cultured cell as defined above is cultured under conditions permitting expression of a polypeptide encoded by the polynucleotide sequence as defined above. Culture conditions that permit expression of a polypeptide are provided in the Examples below, but may be modified, if required, to suit the particular intended use. The carotenoid is then isolated from the cell or, if secreted, from the medium of the cell.

In the present invention, a “carotenoid” includes the following compounds: phytoene, lycopene, β-carotene, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, adonixanthin, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, adonirubin, and combinations thereof. Preferably, the carotenoid is zeaxanthin.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method of making a carotenoid-producing cell. This method includes (a) introducing into a cell a polynucleotide sequence encoding an enzyme in the mevalonate pathway, which enzyme is expressed in the cell; and (b) selecting a cell containing the polynucleotide sequence of step (a) that produces a carotenoid at a level that is about 1.1-1,000 times the level of the carotenoid produced by the cell before introduction of the polynucleotide sequence.

As used herein, the phrase “an enzyme in the mevalonate pathway” means the enzymes shown in FIG. 1A and encoded by the atoB or phaA, hcs, mvaA, mvk, pmk, and mvd genes. For purposes of the present invention, an enzyme is “expressed in the cell” if it is detected using any one of the activity assays set forth in Example 1. Assays for detecting the production of a carotenoid are well known in the art. Examples 1, 11, and 12 provide typical assay procedures for identifying the presence of zeaxanthin, lycopene, and astaxanthin, respectively. In a similar manner, assays for the other carotenoids may be used to detect the presence in the cell or medium of e.g. phytoene, canthaxanthin, adonixanthin, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, and adonirubin.

Thus, this method may be used to make the following exemplary carotenoids: phytoene, lycopene, β-carotene, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, adonixanthin, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, adonirubin, and combinations thereof. In this method, zeaxanthin is the preferred carotenoid.

This method includes producing cells capable of producing a carotenoid at a level that is about 1.1-1,000 times, preferably about 1.5-500 times, such as about 100 times or at least 10 times, the level of the carotenoid produced by the cell before introduction of the polynucleotide sequence.

In this method, the cell produces from about 1 mg/L to about 10 g/L of a carotenoid. It is preferred that the cell produces from about 100 mg/L to about 9 g/L, such as, for example, from about 500 mg/L to about 8 g/L, or from about 1 g/L to about 5 g/L, of a carotenoid.

In this method, the cell may be selected from a yeast, fungus, bacterium, and alga. Preferably, the cell is a bacterium selected from Paracoccus, Flavobacterium, Agrobacterium, Alcaligenes, Erwinia, E. coli, and B. subtilis. More preferably, the bacterium is a Paracoccus.

In this method, the cell may be a mutant cell. As used herein, a “mutant cell” is any cell that contains a non-native polynucleotide sequence or a polynucleotide sequence that has been altered from its native form (e.g., by rearrangement or deletion or substitution of from 1-100, preferably 20-50, more preferably less than 10 nucleotides). Such a non-native sequence may be obtained by random mutagenesis, chemical mutagenesis, UV-irradiation, and the like. Preferably, the mutation results in the increased expression of one or more genes in the mevalonate pathway that results in an increase in the production of a carotenoid, such as zeaxanthin. Methods for generating, screening for, and identifying such mutant cells are well known in the art and are exemplified in the Examples below. Examples of such mutants are R114 or R1534. Preferably, the mutant cell is R114.

In this method, the polynucleotide sequence is SEQ ID NO:42, or the following residues of SEQ ID NO:42: 2622 to 3644, 3641 to 4690, 4687 to 5853, 5834 to 6970, 6970 to 7887, 7880 to 8878, as well as residues 59-292, 295-1158 or 1185-1610 of SEQ ID NO:157 and residues 1-1170 or 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177. These sequences may be used in this method alone or as part of an expression vector. These sequences also may optionally be operatively linked to expression control sequence(s). In this method, combinations of the polynucleotide sequences identified herein may be used, such as for example, SEQ ID NO:42, SEQ ID NO:157, and SEQ ID NO:177.

Examples of expression vector that may be selected for use in this method include pBBR-K-mev-op16-1, pBBR-K-mev-op16-2, pDS-mvaA, pDS-idi, pDS-hcs, pDS-mvk, pDS-pmk, pDS-mvd, pDS-His-mvaA, pDS-His-idi, pDS-His-hcs, pDS-His-mvk, pDS-His-pmk, pDS-His-mvd, pBBR-K-Zea4, pBBR-K-Zea4-up, pBBR-K-Zea4-down, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-idi, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-hcs, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-pmk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvd, pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3, pDS-His-phaA, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, and combinations thereof.

In this method, the polynucleotide sequence is introduced into the cell using any conventional means. Examples of suitable methods for introducing a polynucleotide sequence into a cell include transformation, transduction, transfection, lipofection, electroporation (see e.g., Shigekawa and Dower, 1988, Biotechniques 6: 742-751), conjugation (see e.g., Koehler and Thorne, 1987, Journal of Bacteriology 169: 5771-5278), and biolistics.

The use of conjugation to transfer a polynucleotide sequence, such as in the form of an expression vector, into recipient bacteria is generally effective, and is a well-known procedure. (See for example, Pollock et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,985,623). Depending on the strain of bacteria, it may be more common to use transformation of competent cells with purified DNA.

Known electroporation techniques (both in vitro and in vivo) function by applying a brief high voltage pulse to electrodes positioned around the treatment region. (See for example, Hofmann, U.S. Pat. No. 6,208,893). The electric field generated between the electrodes causes the cell membranes to temporarily become porous, whereupon molecules of the implant agent enter the cells. In known electroporation applications, this electric field comprises a single square wave pulse on the order of 1000 V/cm of about 100 μs duration. Such a pulse may be generated, for example, in known applications of the Electro Square Porator T820, made by the BTX Division of Genetronics, Inc.

Biolistics is a system for delivering polynucleotides into a target cell using microprojectile bombardment techniques. An illustrative embodiment of a method for delivering polynucleotides into target cells by acceleration is a Biolistics Particle Delivery System, which can be used to propel particles coated with DNA or cells through a screen, such as a stainless steel or Nytex screen, onto a filter surface covered with cultured target cells. The screen disperses the particles so that they are not delivered to the target cells in large aggregates. It is believed that a screen intervening between the projectile apparatus and the cells to be bombarded reduces the size of projectiles aggregate and may contribute to a higher frequency of transformation by reducing damage inflicted on the recipient cells by projectiles that are too large.

For the bombardment, cells in suspension are preferably concentrated on filters or solid culture medium. Alternatively, other target cells may be arranged on solid culture medium. The cells to be bombarded are positioned at an appropriate distance below the microprojectile stopping plate. If desired, one or more screens are also positioned between the acceleration device and the cells to be bombarded. Through the use of these well-known techniques one may obtain up to 1000 or more foci of cells transiently expressing a marker gene. The number of cells in a focus which express the exogenous gene product 48 hours post-bombardment often range from 1 to 10 and average 1 to 3.

In bombardment transformation, one may optimize the prebombardment culturing conditions and the bombardment parameters to yield the maximum numbers of stable transformants. Both the physical and biological parameters for bombardment are important in this technology. Physical factors are those that involve manipulating the polynucleotide/microprojectile precipitate or those that affect the flight and velocity of either the macro- or microprojectiles. Biological factors include all steps involved in manipulation of cells before and immediately after bombardment, the osmotic adjustment of target cells to help alleviate the trauma associated with bombardment, and also the nature of the transforming DNA, such as linearized DNA or intact supercoiled plasmids.

Accordingly, it is contemplated that one may wish to adjust various of the bombardment parameters in small-scale studies to fully optimize the conditions. One may particularly wish to adjust physical parameters such as gap distance, flight distance, tissue distance, and helium pressure. One may also minimize the trauma reduction factors (TRFs) by modifying conditions which influence the physiological state of the recipient cells and which may therefore influence transformation and integration efficiencies. For example, the osmotic state, tissue hydration and the subculture stage or cell cycle of the recipient cells may be adjusted for optimum transformation. The execution of other routine adjustments will be known to those of skill in the art in light of the present disclosure.

The methods of particle-mediated transformation is well known to those of skill in the art. Choursiston et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,580 (specifically incorporated herein by reference) describes the transformation of soybeans using such a technique.

Another embodiment of the invention is a method for engineering a bacterium to produce an isoprenoid compound. Such a bacterium is made by (a) culturing a parent bacterium in a medium under conditions permitting expression of an isoprenoid, and selecting a mutant bacterium from the culture medium that produces about 1.1-1,000 times more of an isoprenoid than the parent bacteria; (b) introducing into the mutant bacterium an expression vector containing a polynucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:42 operably linked to an expression control sequence; and (c) selecting a bacterium that contains the expression vector and produces at least about 1.1 times more of an isoprenoid than the mutant in step (a).

In this embodiment, an isoprenoid compound means a compound structurally based on isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) units of the formula:

Such compounds include the hemiterpenes, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes (e.g. phytosterols, phytoestrogens, phytoecdysones, estrogens, phytoestrogens), tetraterpenes (carotenoids), and polyterpenes. Preferably, the isoprenoid is a carotenoid, such as for example, one of the carotenoids identified above, in particular zeaxanthin.

The bacterium may be any bacterium that is capable of producing an isoprenoid compound using the processes disclosed herein. Preferably, the bacterium is a Paracoccus, Flavobacterium, Agrobacterium, Alcaligenes, Erwinia, E. coli, or B. subtilis. Even more preferably, the bacterium is a Paracoccus. Preferably, the parent bacterium is R-1506 or R-1512, and the mutant bacterium is R1534 or R114, preferably R114.

The bacterium is cultured in a media and under conditions that are optimized for the expression of the isoprenoid. The selection of media and culture conditions are well within the skill of the art. The assays set forth in Examples 1, 11, and 12 provide exemplary methods for measuring the presence of certain carotenoids in a culture media. By optimizing the culture conditions and measuring for the production of the target isoprenoid, the culturing and selection of a mutant that meets the specific production parameters recited herein may be met. In this way, a mutant bacterium producing from about 1.1-1,000 times more of an isoprenoid than the parent bacterium may be selected. Preferably, the mutant bacterium produces from about 1.5-500 times more of an isoprenoid than the parent bacterium, such as for example, at least about 100 times or at least about 10 times more of an isoprenoid than the parent bacterium. That bacterium is then cultured and used in subsequent steps.

After selecting the mutant bacterium that produces the desired level of an isoprenoid, an expression vector is introduced into the bacterium using any of the methods set forth above or described in the examples. Any of the expression vectors defined herein may be introduced into the mutant cell. Preferably, the expression vector contains SEQ ID NO:42.

Once the expression vector is introduced into the mutant bacteria, a stable transformant is selected that produces at least about 1.1 times, such as about 5 to about 20 times, more of an isoprenoid than the untransformed mutant. The selected transformant is then cultured under conditions suitable for isoprenoid production, and then the isoprenoid is isolated from the cell or the culture medium.

A further step in this method is introducing a mutation into the mutant bacterium that results in the increased production of an isoprenoid compound by the bacterium. The mutation may be selected from at least one of the following: inactivating the polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) pathway, increasing expression of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase, increasing expression of farnesyl diphosphate (FPP) synthase, increasing expression of an enzyme in a carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, and increasing the expression of an enzyme for converting isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) to dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP).

The inactivating of the PHA pathway may be achieved by selecting for a mutant bacterium that does not express a polypeptide encoded by phaB (nucleotide positions 1258-1980 of SEQ ID NO:177) or by disrupting expression of the wild type phaB gene by homologous recombination using SEQ ID NO:177 or fragments thereof.

In this method, increasing expression of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase may be achieved by introducing into the mutant bacterium a vector containing a polynucleotide sequence represented by SEQ ID NO:175 or nucleotide positions 1-1170 of SEQ ID NO:177 operably linked to an expression control sequence. In this method, increasing expression of FPP synthase may be achieved by introducing into the mutant bacterium a vector containing a polynucleotide sequence represented by nucleotides 295-1158 of SEQ ID NO:157 operably linked to an expression control sequence. In this method, increasing expression of a carotenoid gene may be achieved by introducing into the mutant bacterium a vector comprising a polynucleotide sequence that encodes one or more enzymes in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway, such as for example a polynucleotide sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs:180, 182, and 184 operably linked to an expression control sequence.

In this method, it is preferred that the isoprenoid compound is isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP). It is also preferred that the isoprenoid compound is a carotenoid, such as for example, phytoene, lycopene, β-carotene, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, astaxanthin, adonixanthin, cryptoxanthin, echinenone, adonirubin, and combinations thereof.

Another embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) a sequence similiarity to SEQ ID NO:12 of >97% using a similarity matrix obtained from a homology calculation using GeneCompar v. 2.0 software with a gap penalty of 0%; (b) a homology to R-1512, R1534, R114 or R-1506 of >70% using DNA:DNA hybridization at 81.5° C.; (c) a G+C content of its genomic DNA that varies less than 1% from the G+C content of the genomic DNA of R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506; and (d) an average DNA fingerprint that clusters at about 58% similarity to strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506 using the AFLP procedure of Example 2, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

Methods for determining each of these characteristics are fully set forth in Example 2, and it is contemplated when these methods are used that microorganisms meeting the above criteria will be readily identifiable. It is preferred that a microorganism of the present invention have each characteristic set forth above (i.e., a-d). However, any combination of the characteristics a-d, which provides sufficient information to taxonomically validly describe a microorganism belonging to the same species as R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506, with the exception of Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966) is also within the scope of the invention.

Another embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) 18:1w7c comprising at least about 75% of the total fatty acids of the cell membranes; (b) an inability to use adonitol, i-erythritol, gentiobiose, β-methylglucoside, D-sorbitol, xylitol and quinic acid as carbon sources for growth; and (c) an ability to use L-asparagine and L-aspartic acid as carbon sources for growth, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

Methods for determining each of these characteristics are also fully set forth in Example 2, and it is contemplated when these methods are used that microorganisms meeting the above criteria will be readily identifiable. It is preferred that a microorganism of the present invention have each characteristic set forth above (i.e., a-c). However, any combination of the characteristics a-c, which provides sufficient information to taxonomically validly describe a microorganism belonging to the same species as R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506, with the exception of Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966) is also within the scope of the invention.

Another embodiment of the invention is a microorganism of the genus Paracoccus, which microorganism has the following characteristics: (a) an ability to grow at 40° C.; (b) an ability to grow in a medium having 8% NaCl; (c) an ability to grow in a medium having a pH of 9.1; and (d) a yellow-orange colony pigmentation, with the proviso that the microorganism is not Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

Methods for determining each of these characteristics are also fully set forth in Example 2, and it is contemplated when these methods are used that microorganisms meeting the above criteria will be readily identifiable. It is preferred that a microorganism of the present invention have each characteristic set forth above (i.e., a-d). However, any combination of the characteristics a-d, which provides sufficient information to taxonomically validly describe a microorganism belonging to the same species as R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506, with the exception of Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966) is also within the scope of the invention.

A microorganism of the present invention may also be identified using any combination of the 11 characteristics set forth above, which provide sufficient information to taxonomically validly describe a microorganism belonging to the same species as R114, R-1512, R1534, and R-1506, with the exception of Paracoccus sp. (MBIC3966).

The following examples are provided to further illustrate certain aspects of the present invention. These examples are illustrative only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way.

EXAMPLES Example 1 Analytical and Biochemical Methods

Analysis of Carotenoids

Sample preparation. A solvent mixture of 1:1 dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and tetrahydrofuran (THF) was first prepared. This solvent mixture was stabilized by the addition of butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT, 0.5 g/l solvent mixture). Four milliliters of the stabilized DMSO/THF mixture was added to 0.4 ml of bacterial culture in a disposable 15-ml polypropylene centrifuge tube (gives a final dilution factor of 1/11). The tubes were capped and mixed using a Vortex mixer for 10 seconds each. The samples were then put on a Brinkmann Vibramix shaker for 20 minutes. The tubes were centrifuged at room temperature for 4 minutes at 4000 rpm and aliquots of the clear yellow/orange supernatant were transferred into brown glass vials for analysis by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC).

HPLC. A reversed phase HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of astaxanthin, zeaxanthin, canthaxanthin, β-carotene, and lycopene. The method was also able to separate the main cis-isomers of zeaxanthin. Chromatography was performed using an Agilent 1100 HPLC system equipped with a thermostatted autosampler and a diode array detector. The method parameters were as follows:

Column YMC Carotenoid C30 column, particle size 5 micron 250* 4.6 mm I.D., steel (YMC, Part No. CT99S052546WT) Guard column Pelliguard LC-18 cartridge, 20 mm (SUPELCO, Part No. 59654) Mobile phase Methanol (MeOH)/Methyl tert-butyl ether (TBME) gradient % MeOH % TBME Start 80 20 10 min. 65 35 20 min. 10 90 Run time 28 min. Typical column pressure 90 bar at start Flow rate 1.0 ml/min. Detection UV at 450 nm Injection volume 10 μl Column temperature 15° C.

Reagents. Methanol and TBME were HPLC grade and were obtained from EM Science and J. T. Baker, respectively. DMSO (Omnisolve) was purchased from EM Science. THF (HPLC solvent) was from Burdick and Jackson.

Calculations. Quantitative analyses were performed with a two level calibration using external standards (provided by Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland). Calculations were based on peak areas.

Selectivity. The selectivity of the method were verified by injecting standard solutions of the relevant carotenoid reference compounds. The target compounds (all-trans-carotenoids) were completely separated and showed no interference. Some minor cis isomers may coelute, although these potentially interfering isomers are rare and need not be considered in routine analyses. The retention times of the compounds are listed in Table 1.

TABLE 1 HPLC retention times for carotenoids. Carotenoid Retention time (min.) Astaxanthin 6.99 Adonixanthin 7.50 15-cis-Zeaxanthin 7.80 13-cis-Zeaxanthin 8.23 all-trans-Zeaxanthin 9.11 Canthaxanthin 9.95 Cryptoxanthin 13.45 β-Carotene 17.40 Lycopene 21.75

Linearity. 25 Milligrams of all-trans-zeaxanthin were dissolved in 50 ml of DMSO/THF mixture (giving a final zeaxanthin concentration 500 μg/ml). A dilution series was prepared (final zeaxanthin concentrations of 250, 100, 50, 10, 5, 1, and 0.1 μg/ml) and analyzed by the HPLC method described above. A linear range was found from 0.1 μg/ml to 250 μg/ml. The correlation coefficient was 0.9998.

Limit of detection. The lower limit of detection for zeaxanthin by this method was determined to be 60 μg/l. A higher injection volume and optimization of the integration parameters made it possible to lower the detection limit to approximately 5 μg/l.

Reproducibility. The retention time for all-trans-zeaxanthin was very stable (relative standard deviation (RSD), 0.2%). The peak area reproducibility, based on ten repetitive analyses of the same culture sample, was determined to be 0.17% RSD for all trans-zeaxanthin and 1.0% for cryptoxanthin.

Preparation of Crude Extracts and Enzyme Assay Methods.

Preparation of crude extracts. Crude extracts of Paracoccus and E. coli were prepared by resuspending washed cell pellets in 1 ml of extraction buffer (buffer used depended on the enzyme being assayed—compositions are specified along with each enzyme assay procedure described below). Cell suspensions were placed in a 2-ml plastic vial and disrupted by agitation with glass beads using a Mini Bead Beater 8 (Biospec Products, Bartlesville, Okla., USA). Disruption was performed at 4° C. using a medium agitation setting. The disrupted preparations were centrifuged at 21,000×g for 20 minutes at 4° C. to sediment the cell debris, and the supernatants were used directly for enzyme assays.

Protein determinations. Protein concentrations in crude extracts were determined by the method of Bradford (Anal. Biochem. 72, 248-254, 1976) using the Bio-Rad Protein Assay Reagent (Bio-Rad, Hercules, Calif., USA). Bovine serum albumin was used as the reference protein for construction of standard curves.

Acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase assays. Crude extracts were prepared in 150 mM EPPS (N-[2-hydroxyethyl] piperizine-N′-[3-propanesulfonic acid]) buffer, pH 8.0. Assays were performed in the thiolysis direction according to the method described by Slater et al. (J. Bacteriol., 180, 1979-1987, 1998). This assay measures the disappearance of acetoacetyl-CoA spectrophotometrically at 304 nm. Reaction mixtures contained 150 mM EPPS buffer (pH 8.0), 50 mM MgCl₂, 100 μM CoA, 40 μM acetoacetyl-CoA and crude extract. Reactions were carried out at 30° C. and were initiated by addition of crude extract. The disappearance of acetoacetyl-CoA at 304 nm was monitored using a SpectraMAX Plus plate reader (Molecular Devices Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., USA) and a quartz microtiter plate (any standard spectrophotometer can also be used). Activity (expressed as U/mg protein) was calculated using a standard curve constructed with acetoacetyl-CoA (1 unit of activity=1 μmol acetoacetyl-CoA consumed/min.). The lower limit of detection of Acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity was 0.006 U/mg.

HMG-CoA synthase assays. HMG-CoA synthase was assayed according to the method of Honda et al. (Hepatology 27, 154-159, 1998). In this assay, the formation of HMG-CoA from acetyl-CoA and acetoacetyl-CoA is measured directly by separating the reaction product and substrates by HPLC. Crude extracts were prepared in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0). Reaction mixtures (0.1 ml) contained 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0), 0.1 mM EDTA, 20 mM MgCl₂, 0.1 mM acetoacetyl-CoA, 0.8 mM acetyl-CoA and crude extract. Reactions were pre-incubated for 2 minutes at 30° C. before adding the crude extract. After 5 minutes of reaction at 30° C., the reactions were stopped by adding 0.2 ml of 200 mM tetra-butyl ammonium phosphate (TBAP, dissolved in methanol-water (3:2, final pH was 5.5) and containing 0.2 mM propionyl-CoA as an internal recovery standard). The mixture was then centrifuged for 3 minutes at 21,000×g at 4° C. and subsequently kept on ice until analyzed by reversed phase ion-pair HPLC. HMG-CoA and propionyl-CoA were separated from acetyl-CoA and acetoacetyl-CoA using a Nova-Pak C18 column (3.9×150 mm, Waters Corporation, Milford, Mass., USA). The injection volume was 20 μl, the mobile phase was 50 mM TBAP dissolved in methanol-water (1:1, final pH was 5.5), and the flow rate was 1.0 ml/min. HMG-CoA and propionyl-CoA were detected by absorbance at 254 nm. HMG-CoA produced in the reaction was quantified by comparison with a standard curve created using authentic HMG-CoA. Activity is defined as U/mg protein. One unit of activity=1 nmol HMG-CoA produced/min. The lower limit of detection of HMG-CoA synthase was about 1 U/mg.

HMG-CoA reductase assays. Crude extracts were prepared in 25 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2) containing 50 mM KCl, 1 mM EDTA and a protease inhibitor cocktail (Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, Mo., USA, catalog #P-2714). Assays were performed according to the method of Takahashi et al. (J. Bacteriol., 181, 1256-1263 (1999)). This assay measures the HMG-CoA dependent oxidation of NADPH spectrophotometrically at 340 nm. Reaction mixtures contained 25 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2), 50 mM KCl, 1 mM EDTA, 5 mM dithiothreitol, 0.3 mM NADPH, 0.3 mM R,S-HMG-CoA and crude extract. Reactions were performed at 30° C. and were initiated by the addition of HMG-CoA. HMG-CoA-dependent oxidation of NADPH was monitored at 340 nm using a SpectraMAX Plus plate reader (Molecular Devices Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., USA) and a quartz microtiter plate (any standard spectrophotometer may be used). Activity (expressed as U/mg protein) was calculated using a standard curve constructed with NADPH (1 unit of activity=1 μmol NADPH oxidized/min.). The lower limit of detection of HMG-CoA reductase activity was 0.03 U/mg.

Mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase assays. The preparation of substrates and the assay procedures for mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase have been described in detail by Popják (Methods Enzymol., 15, 393-425, 1969). For all assays, one unit of enzyme activity is defined as 1 μmol of product formed/minute. In addition to these spectrophotometric and radiochromatographic assays, alternate methods, for example using HPLC separation of reaction substrates and products, can be used. The lower limit of detection of mevalonate kinase, phosphomevalonate kinase and mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase is typically about 0.001 U/mg protein.

IPP isomerase assays. Crude extracts were prepared in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5). Assays were performed using the method of Spurgeon et al. (Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 230, 445-454, 1984). This assay is based on the difference in acid-lability of IPP and DMAPP. Reaction mixtures (0.1 ml final volume) contained 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5), 2 mM dithiothreitol, 5 mM MgCl₂, 20 μM [1-¹⁴C]-IPP and crude extract. Reactions were carried out at 30° C. for 15 minutes and terminated by the addition of 0.3 ml of a mixture of concentrated HCl:methanol (4:1) and an additional incubation at 37° C. for 20 minutes. Hexane (0.9 ml) was added and the tubes were mixed (4 times for 10 seconds using a vortex mixer). After centrifugation (21,000×g, 5 minutes), 0.6 ml of the hexane layer was transferred to a scintillation vial, scintillation fluid was added, and the radioactivity counted. Activity is expressed as U/mg protein. One unit of activity=1 pmol [1-¹⁴C]-IPP incorporated into acid labile products/min. The lower limit of detection of IPP isomerase activity was 1 U/mg.

FPP synthase assays. Crude extracts were prepared in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0). The FPP synthase assay procedure was similar to the IPP isomerase assay described above, being based on the difference in acid lability of IPP and FPP (Spurgeon et al., Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 230, 445-454, 1984). Reaction mixtures (0.1 ml final volume) contained 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0), 2 mM dithiothreitol, 5 mM MgCl₂, 20 μM [1-¹⁴C]-IPP, 25 μM GPP (geranyl pyrophosphate) and crude extract. Reactions were carried out at 30° C. for 15 minutes and terminated by the addition of 0.3 ml of a mixture of concentrated HCl:methanol (4:1) and an additional incubation at 37° C. for 20 minutes. Hexane (0.9 ml) was added and the tubes were mixed (4×, 10 seconds using a vortex mixer). After centrifugation (21,000×g, 5 minutes), 0.6 ml of the hexane layer was transferred to a scintillation vial, scintillation fluid was added, and the radioactivity counted. Units of enzyme activity, and the lower limit of detection, were the same as defined above for IPP isomerase. In cases where high IPP isomerase activity interferes with measurement of FPP synthase activity, crude extract may be preincubated for 5 minutes in the presence of 5 mM iodoacetamide to inhibit IPP isomerase activity.

GGPP synthase assays. Crude extracts were prepared in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0) containing 2 mM dithiothreitol. GGPP synthase was assayed according to the procedure of Kuzuguchi et al. (J. Biol. Chem., 274, 5888-5894, 1999). This assay is based on the same principle as described above for FPP synthase. Reaction mixtures (0.1 ml final volume) contained 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0), 2 mM dithiothreitol, 5 mM MgCl₂, 20 μM [1-¹⁴C]-IPP, 25 μM FPP and crude extract. All reaction conditions and subsequent treatment of samples for scintillation counting were identical to those described above for FPP synthase. Treatment of extract with iodoacetamide to inhibit IPP isomerase activity may also be used as above. Units of enzyme activity, and the lower limit of detection, were the same as defined above for IPP isomerase.

Acetoacetyl-CoA reductase assays. Crude extracts are prepared in 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.5) containing 50 mM KCl and 5 mM dithiothreitol. Acetoacetyl-CoA reductase was assayed according to the procedure of Chohan and Copeland (Appl. Environ. Microbiol., 64, 2859-2863, 1998). This assay measures the acetoacetyl-CoA-dependent oxidation of NADPH spectrophotometrically at 340 nm. Reaction mixtures (1 ml) contain 50 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.5), 15 mM MgCl₂, 250 μM NADPH, and 100 μM acetoacetyl-CoA. Reactions are performed at in a quartz cuvette at. 30° C. and are initiated by the addition of acetoacetyl-CoA. Activity (expressed as U/mg protein) was calculated using a standard curve constructed with NADPH (1 unit of activity=1 μmol NADPH oxidized/min). The lower limit of detection of acetoacetyl-CoA reductase activity is about 0.01 U/mg.

Example 2 Taxonomic Reclassification of Flavobacterium sp. as Paracoccus

This Example describes the taxonomic re-classification of the zeaxanthin-producing bacterium formerly designated Flavobacterium sp. strain R-1512 (ATCC 21588) as Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512 (ATCC 21588).

A comprehensive genomic and biochemical/physiological analysis was performed by the Belgian Coordinated Collections of Microorganisms/Laboratorium voor Microbiologie, Universiteit Gent (BCCM™/LMG), using state-of-the-art methods currently accepted as the scientific standards for bacterial classification. Besides Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512, several other bacteria belonging to the genus Paracoccus were included in the study (summarized in Table 2).

TABLE 2 Bacteria used in taxonomic study. Bacterium Strain designation Source or reference Paracoccus sp. R-1512 (ATCC 21588) American Type Culture Collection (environmental isolate); Schocher and Wiss, U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,504 Paracoccus sp. R1534 Hohmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,152 (mutant derived from R-1512) Paracoccus sp. R114 This work (mutant derived from R-1512) Paracoccus sp. R-1506 This work (environmental isolate) Paracoccus sp. MBIC3024 H. Kasai, Kamaishi Institute, Japan Paracoccus sp. MBIC3966 H. Kasai, Kamaishi Institute, Japan Paracoccus sp. MBIC4017 H. Kasai, Kamaishi Institute, Japan Paracoccus sp. MBIC4020 H. Kasai, Kamaishi Institute, Japan Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) Harker et al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 48, 543-548, 1998. Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) Tsubokura et at., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49, 277-282, 1999. Paracoccus solventivorans DSM 6637^(T) Siller et. al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 46, 1125-1130, 1996.

Strains R1534 and R114 are mutants derived from strain R-1512 by classical mutagenesis and screening for improved zeaxanthin production. The primary screening was accomplished by selecting the highest color intensity producing colonies. A secondary screening was accomplished in liquid culture media by the HPLC methods according to Example 1. Strain R-1506 is an independent isolate obtained from the same initial screening of environmental microorganisms that provided strain R-1512. Strains MBIC3024, MBIC3966, MBIC4017 and MBIC4020 were identified as members of the genus Paracoccus by the nucleotide sequences of their 16S rDNA genes (DNA sequences were deposited in the public EMBL database, see Table 5). Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) and Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) are recently described type strains of carotenoid-producing bacteria (Harker et al. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 48, 543-548, 1998; Tsubokura et al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 49, 277-282, 1999). Paracoccus solventivorans DSM 6637^(T) was included as a “control” strain, being a member of the genus Paracoccus but distantly related to the other bacteria used.

Preliminary experiments resulted in the following conclusions. Each of the methods set forth herein has a well-recognized ability to define taxonomic relatedness or relative degree of similarity between organisms. The methods and their use for delineating bacterial taxa were described and compared in detail by Van Damme et al., Microbiological Reviews 60, 407-438 (1996) and Janssen et al., Microbiology 142, 1881-1893 (1996).

-   1. Fatty acid analysis of the cell membranes of strains R1534 and     R114 showed that the two strains were highly similar and indicated a     taxonomic relatedness of these strains to Paracoccus denitrificans     and Rhodobacter capsulatus. -   2. One-dimensional gel electrophoresis of cellular proteins showed a     high similarity (i.e., a relatedness at the intra-species level)     between R1534 and R114, but the profiles did not justify allocation     of these strains to either R. capsulatus or P. denitrificans. -   3. DNA:DNA hybridization between strain R1534 and R. capsulatus     LMG2962^(T) and P. denitrificans LMG4218^(T) confirmed that strain     R1534 is neither R. capsulatus nor P. denitrificans. -   4. Sequencing of 16S rDNA genes from strains R1534 and R114 showed     that these organisms belong to the genus Paracoccus, but that they     represent a new species. The highest degree of sequence similarity     was observed with the 16S rDNA gene of Paracoccus sp. strains     MBIC3966, MBIC4020 and MBIC3024.

5. DNA fingerprinting of strains R1534 and R-1512 using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP™) showed high overall similarity of the genomic DNA from the two strains, indicating an infraspecific relatedness (i.e. AFLP™ can differentiate between two members of the same species).

In the following sections, the results and conclusions of the present comprehensive taxonomic study of Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512 (and its mutant derivatives R1534 and R114) are set forth.

16S rDNA sequencing and phylogenetic study. The bacteria set forth in Table 2 were grown in LMG medium 185 ((TSA) BBL 11768 supplemented where necessary with 1.5% Difco Bacto agar). Genomic DNA was prepared according to the protocol of Niemann et al. (J. Appl. Microbiol. 82, 477-484, 1997). Genes coding for 16S rDNA were amplified from genomic DNA from strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using the primers shown in Table 3.

TABLE 3 Primers used for PCR amplification of DNA coding for 165 rDNA in Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114, and R-1506. Primer Sequence name^(a) Synonym (5′→3′) Position^(b) 16F27 PA AGA GTT TGA TCC TGG    8-27 CTC AG (SEQ ID NO:1) 16F38 ARI C/T CTG GCT CAG GAC/T GAA   19-38 CGC TG (SEQ ID NO:2) 16R1522 PH AAG GAG GTG ATC CAG 1541-1522 CCG CA (SEQ ID NO:3) ^(a)F, forward primer; R, reverse primer. Forward primer 16F27 was used for strains R1534 and R-1506, while forward primer 16F38 was used for strains R-1512 and R114. The reverse primer 16R1522 was used for all strains. ^(b)Hybridization position referring to E. coli 16S rDNA gene sequence numbering.

The PCR-amplified DNAs were purified using the Qiaquick PCR Purification Kit (Qiagen GmbH, Hilden, Germany). Complete sequencing was performed using an Applied Biosystems, Inc. 377 DNA Sequencer and the protocols of the manufacturer (Perkin-Elmer, Applied Biosystems Division, Foster City, Calif., USA) using the “ABI PRISM™ Big Dye™ Terminator Cycle Sequencing Ready Reaction Kit (with AmpliTaq® DNA Polymerase, Fs)”. The primers used for DNA sequencing are shown in Table 4.

TABLE 4 Primers used for sequencing PCR-amplified segments of genes coding for 16S rDNA in Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506. Primer name^(a) Synonym Sequence (5′→3′) Position^(b) 16F358 *Gamma CTC CTA CGG GAG GCA GCA 339-358 GT (SEQ ID NO:4) 16F536 *PD CAG CAG CCG CGG TAA TAC 519-536 (SEQ ID NO:5) 16F926 *O AAC TCA AAG GAA TTG ACG 908-926 G (SEQ ID NO:6) 16F1112 *3 AGT CCC GCA ACG AGC GCA 1093-1112 AC (SEQ ID NO:7) 16F1241 *R GCT ACA CAC GTG CTA CAA 1222-1241 TG (SEQ ID NO:8) 16R339 Gamma ACT GCT GCC TCC CGT AGG 358-339 AG (SEQ ID NO:9) 16R519 PD GTA TTA CCG CGG CTG CTG 536-519 (SEQ ID NO:10) 16R1093 3 GTT GCG CTC GTT GCG GGA 1112-1093 CT (SEQ ID NO:11) ^(a)F, forward primer; R, reverse primer. ^(b)Hybridization position referring to E. coli 16S rDNA gene sequence numbering.

Five forward and three reverse primers were used to obtain a partial overlap of sequences, ensuring highly reliable assembled sequence data. Sequence assembly was performed using the program AutoAssembler (Perkin-Elmer, Applied Biosystems Division, Foster City, Calif., USA). Phylogenetic analysis was performed using the software package GeneCompar™ (v. 2.0, Applied Maths B. V. B. A., Kortrijk, Belgium) after including the consensus sequences (from strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506) in an alignment of small ribosomal subunit sequences collected from the international nucleotide sequence library EMBL. This alignment was pairwise calculated using an open gap penalty of 100% and a unit gap penalty of 0%. A similarity matrix was created by homology calculation with a gap penalty of 0% and after discarding unknown bases. A resulting tree was constructed using the neighbor-joining method.

FIG. 2 shows the nucleotide sequence of the 16s rDNA gene from Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512 (SEQ ID NO:12). The distance matrix, presented as the percentage of 16S rDNA sequence similarity, between strain R-1512 and its closest relatives, is shown in Table 5. The sequences from strains R-1512 and its mutant derivatives R1534 and R114 were identical. The sequence from R-1506 differed by only one nucleotide from the sequence from latter strains. This demonstrated strains R-1512 and R-1506 are phylogenetically highly related and likely belong to the same species (confirmed by DNA:DNA hybridization, see below). Comparison of the R-1512 and R-1506 sequences with those publicly available at the EMBL library located R-1512 and R-1506 in the genus Paracoccus. However, the sequence similarities observed with all currently taxonomically validly described Paracoccus species was <97%, the value generally accepted as the limit for a possible relatedness at the species level (Stackebrandt and Goebel, Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 44, 846-849, 1994). This demonstrated that strains R-1512 (and its mutant derivatives) and R-1506 belong to one or two new Paracoccus species. Sequence similarities of >97% (significant for a possible relationship at the species level), were observed between four unnamed Paracoccus strains and strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506, suggesting that one or more of the unnamed (MBIC) strains may relate at the species level to strains R-1512 and R-1506. Based on cluster analysis (phylogenetic tree, see FIG. 3), strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506 and four unnamed Paracoccus strains (MBIC3024, MBIC3966, MBIC4017 and MBIC4020) were selected for DNA:DNA hybridization experiments to analyze species relatedness.

TABLE 5 Distance matrix, presented as the percentage of 16S rDNA sequence similarity, between Paracoccus sp. strain R-1512 and its closest relatives. EMBL Accession Strain^(a) number % Similarity R-1512 — 100 R1534 — 100 R114 — 100 R-1506 — 99.9 Paracoccus sp. MBIC3966 AB018688 100 Paracoccus sp. MBIC3024 AB008115 98.2 Paracoccus sp. MBIC4020 AB025191 98.1 Paracoccus sp. MBIC4036 AB025192 97.0 Paracoccus sp. MBIC4017 AB025188 96.9 Paracoccus sp. MBIC4019 AB025190 96.8 Paracoccus sp. MBIC4018 AB025189 96.4 Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) Y12703 96.2 Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) AB006899 96.1 Paracoccus solventivorans DSM 6637^(T) Y07705 95.4 Paracoccus thiocyanaticus THIO11^(T) D32242 95.3 Paracoccus aminophilus JCM 7686^(T) D32239 95.1 Paracoccus alcaliphilus JCM 7364^(T) D32238 95.0 Paracoccus pantotrophicus ATCC 35512^(T) Y16933 95.0 Paracoccus denitrificans ATCC 17741^(T) Y16927 94.8 Paracoccus versutus IAM 12814^(T) D32243 94.7 Paracoccus kocurii JCM 7684^(T) D32241 94.6 Paracoccus aminovorans JCM 7685^(T) D32240 94.4 Paracoccus alkenifer A901/1^(T) Y13827 94.3 Rhodobacter capsulatus ATCC 11166^(T) D16428 92.9 ^(a)Type strains are followed by a^(T)

DNA:DNA hybridization and determination of G+C content. The bacteria set forth in Table 5 were grown in LMG medium 185. Genomic DNA was prepared according to the protocol of Wilson (In F. M. Ausabel, R. Brent, R. E. Kingston, D. D. Moore, J. G. Seidman, J. A. Smith and K. Struhl (ed.), Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Greene Publishing and Wiley Interscience, New York, p. 2.4.1-2.4.5, 1987). The G+C content of the DNA's was determined by HPLC according to Mesbach et al. (Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 39, 159-167, 1989) as modified by Logan et al. (Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 50, 1741-1753, 2000). Reported values are the mean of these measurements on the same DNA sample. DNA:DNA hybridizations were performed using the initial renaturation rate method as described by De Ley et al. (Eur. J. Biochem. 12, 133-142, 1970). The hybridization temperature was 81.5° C. For this method, an average deviation of +/−5.8% has been reported by Vauterin et al. (Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 45, 472-489, 1995). The G+C content of the bacterial DNA's and the results of the DNA hybridization experiments are summarized in Table 6.

TABLE 6 G + C content (mol %) of DNA from Paracoccus spp. strains and per cent DNA homology between the strains. Strain % G + C % DNA Homology R-1512 67.6 100 R1534 67.7 96 100 R114 67.5 100 97 100 R-1506 67.5 94 90 88 100 MBIC3024 65.4 31 nd^(a) nd 31 100 MBIC3966 66.9 93 nd nd 88 32 100 MBIC4017 67.2 32 nd nd 31 24 24 100 MBIC4020 68.4 27 nd nd 25 25 23 34 100 ^(a)not determined

Strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506 and MBIC3966 showed a DNA homology of >70% (the generally accepted limit for species delineation (Wayne et al. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 37, 463-464, 1987)), and therefore belong to the same species within the genus Paracoccus. The G+C content of these five strains varied from 66.9%-67.7%, thus remaining within 1%, characteristic for a well defined species. On the other hand, the low DNA homology between strains MBIC3024, MBIC4017 and MBIC4020 and strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506 and MBIC3966 showed that MBIC3024, MBIC4017 and MBIC4020 each belong to a different genomic species within the genus Paracoccus.

DNA fingerprinting using AFLP™. AFLP™ is a PCR-based technique for whole genome DNA fingerprinting via the selective amnplification and selective visualization of restriction fragments (Vos et al. Nucleic Acids Research 23, 4407-4414, 1995; Janssen et al. Microbiology 142, 1881-1893, 1996). In this analysis, Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966, and Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) were compared to evaluate infraspecies relatedness. These bacteria were grown in LMG medium 185. Genomic DNA from each of these bacteria was prepared according to the protocol of Wilson (In F. M. Ausabel, R. Brent, R. E. Kingston, D. D. Moore, J. G. Seidman, J. A. Smith and K. Struhl (ed.), Current Protocols in Molecular Biology, Greene Publishing and Wiley Interscience, New York, p. 2.4.1-2.4.5 (1987)). Purified DNA was digested by two restriction enzymes, a 4-base cutter and a 6-base cutter. In this way, a limited number of fragments with two different ends and of suitable size for efficient PCR were obtained. Adaptors (small double-stranded DNA molecules of 15-20 bp) containing one compatible end were ligated to the appropriate “sticky” end of the restriction fragments. Both adaptors are restriction halfsite-specific, and have different sequences. These adaptors serve as binding sites for PCR primers. Here, the restriction enzymes used were ApaI (a hexacutter, recognition sequence GGGCC/C) and TaqI (a tetracutter, recognition sequence T/GCA). The sequences of the adaptors ligated to the sticky ends generated by cleavage with the restriction enzymes are shown in Table 7 (SEQ ID Nos:13-22). PCR was used for selective amplification of the restriction fragments. The PCR primers specifically annealed with the adaptor ends of the restriction fragments. Because the primers contain, at their 3′ end, one so-called “selective base” that extends beyond the restriction site into the fragment, only those restriction fragments that have the appropriate complementary sequence adjacent to the restriction site were amplified. The sequences of the six PCR primer combinations used are also shown in Table 7.

TABLE 7 Adaptors and PCR primers used for AFLP™ analysis. Sequence Adaptors corresponding to restriction enzyme ApaI Adaptor 93A03 5′-TCGTAGACTGCGTACAGGCC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:13) Adaptor 93A04 3′-CATCTGACGCATGT-5′ (SEQ ID NO:14) Adaptors corresponding to restriction enzyme TaqI Adaptor 94A01 5′-GACGATGAGTCCTGAC-3′ (SEQ ID NO:15) Adaptor 94A02 3′-TACTCAGGACTGGC-5′ (SEQ ID NO:16) Primer combination 1 (PC A) A01 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCA3′ (SEQ ID NO:17) T01 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGA3′ (SEQ ID NO:18) Primer combination 2 (PC B) A01 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCA3′ (SEQ ID NO:17) T02 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGAC3′ (SEQ ID NO:19) Primer combination 3 (PC D) A02 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCC3′ (SEQ ID NO:20) T01 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGAA3′ (SEQ ID NO:18) Primer combination 4 (PC I) A03 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCG3′ (SEQ ID NO:21) T03 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGAG3′ (SEQ ID NO:22) Primer combination 5 (PC G) A03 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCG3′ (SEQ ID NO:21) T01 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGAA3′ (SEQ ID NO:18) Primer combination 6 (PC H) A03 5′GACTGCGTACAGGCCCG3′ (SEQ ID NO:21) T02 5′CGATGAGTCCTGACCGAC3′ (SEQ ID NO:19)

Following amplification, the PCR products were separated according to their length on a high resolution polyacrylamide gel using a DNA sequencer (ABI 377). Fragments that contained an adaptor specific for the restriction halfsite created by the 6-bp cutter were visualized by autoradiography due to the 5′-end labeling of the corresponding primer with ³²P. The electrophoretic patterns were scanned and numerically analyzed with GelCompar™ 4.2 software (Applied Maths, B. V. B. A.; Kortrijk, Belgium) and clustered using the Pearson curve matching coefficient and unweighted pair group averages linking (clustering methods were reviewed by Sneath and Sokal, In: Numerical Taxonomy. Freeman & Son, San Francisco (1973)). The results are shown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

In all six primer combinations (PC A-H, Table 7), the DNA fingerprints of Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534 and R114 were highly similar if not identical. In cases where minor differences were observed, reproducibility was not evaluated. The high similarity or identity among the three strains was expected as strains R1534 and R114 were derived from strain R-1512. With all primer combinations, strains R-1512, R1534 and R114 were clearly discriminated from strains R-1506 and MBIC3966, the latter two strains equally belonging to the new Paracoccus species. However, the fingerprints provide no clear indication that strains R-1512, R1534 and R114 are more related to either R-1506 or MBIC3966. Under the conditions used, the five strains of the new species cluster at an average level of about 58% similarity (this value is the mean of the six values of the branching points of the new species in the six AFLP™ experiments (six primer combinations)), and the cluster can clearly be discriminated from the profile of Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T), the type strain of a phylogenetically related carotenoid-producing Paracoccus species. The mean similarity value of the six branching points for Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) and the new species was about 11%.

Fatty acid analysis. The fatty acid composition of the cell membranes of Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966 were compared to the type strains Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) , Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) and Paracoccus solventivorans DSM 6637^(T). The bacteria were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. in LMG medium 185. The fatty acid compositions were determined by gas chromatography using the commercial system MIDI (Microbial Identification System, Inc., DE, USA). Extraction and analysis of fatty acids was performed according to the recommendations of the MIDI system. Table 8 summarizes the results for all strains tested. For the five strains of the new Paracoccus species (R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966), the mean profile was calculated. All eight organisms showed a comparable fatty acid composition of their cell membranes, with 18:1 w7c as the major compound. Only minor differences in fatty acid composition were observed between the new Paracoccus species and the three type strains.

Utilization of carbon sources for growth. For testing the aerobic utilization of carbon sources, BIOLOG-SF-N Microplate microtiter plates (Biolog Inc., Hayward, Calif., USA) containing 95 substrates were used with the exception that the substrate in well E6 was D,L-lactic acid methyl ester instead of the usual sodium salt of D,L-lactic acid. Cells from each of the strains identified in Table 9 were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. in LMG medium 12 (Marine Agar, Difco 0979). A cell suspension with a density equivalent to 0.5 McFarland units was prepared in sterile distilled water. From this suspension, 18 drops were transferred into 21 ml of AUX medium (API 20NE, bioMérieux, France) and mixed gently. 0.1 Milliliters of the suspension was transferred to each well of the BIOLOG MicroPlates, and the plates were incubated at 30° C. Wells were visually checked for growth after 48 hours and after 6 days. Also, at 6 days the visual scoring was confirmed by reading the microtiter plates using the BIOLOG plate reader.

The results of the BIOLOG analysis are shown in Table 9. Growth (positive reaction) was determined as increased turbidity compared to the reference well without substrate. A distinction was made between good growth (+), weak growth (±) and no growth (−). Results in parentheses are those obtained after 6 days if different from the results obtained after 48 hours. A question mark indicates an unclear result at 6 days. Of the 95 carbon sources tested, 12 could be used, and 47 could not be used, for growth by all five strains comprising the new Paracoccus species (R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506 and MBIC3966). These five strains gave variable growth responses to the remaining 36 substrates. The new Paracoccus species could be distinguished from the two other carotenoid-producing bacteria (Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) and Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T)) by their inability to use seven carbon sources (adonitol, i-erythritol, gentiobiose, β-methylglucoside, D-sorbitol, xylitol and quinic acid). Two carbon sources that were utilized by all five members of the new Paracoccus species (L-asparagine and L-aspartic acid) were not used for growth by Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T).

TABLE 8 Fatty acid composition of cell membranes of Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114, R-1506, MBIC3966 and three type strains of other Paracoccus species. Mean % for: Paracoccus sp. strains % for: R-1512, R1534, R114, Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus R-1506 and marcusii carotinifaciens solventivorans Name MBIC3966 DSM 11574^(T) E-396^(T) DSM 6637^(T) 10:0 3OH 4.9 ± 1.1 6.2 3.4 3.6 Unnamed 11.799 3.6 ± 0.5 4.9 2.8 3.0 Unnamed 15.275 1.5 ± 0.3 2.9 1.1 ND^(a) 16:0 0.3 ± 0.2 ND 0.3 0.7 17:1 w8c ND ND 0.6 0.8 17:0 0.1 ± 0.1 ND 0.3 1.3 18:1 w7c 80.5 ± 1.8  80.3  84.0  79.0  18:0 3.6 ± 0.4 2.6 5.2 6.6 18:0 3OH 0.6 ± 0.4 ND ND ND 19:0 ND ND ND 0.7 20:1 w7c 0.8 ± 0.2 ND 0.2 2.0 Summed feature 2 2.7 ± 0.4 3.0 2.1 2.6 Summed feature 3 0.7 ± 0.5 ND 0.2 ND TOTAL 99.3 99.9  100.2  100.3  ^(a)ND, not detected

Biochemical tests. Selected biochemical features were tested using the API 20NE strip (bioMérieux, France). Cells from each of the bacterial strains identified in Table 10 were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12. Cell suspensions were prepared and strips inoculated according to the instructions of the manufacturer. Strips were incubated at 28° C. and results determined after 24 and 48 hours. The results are summarized in Table 10. Of the nine features tested, only one (urease activity) gave a variable response among the five strains of the new Paracoccus species. These nine tests did not differentiate between the new Paracoccus species and Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) and Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T).

TABLE 9 Utilization of carbon sources for growth by Paracoccus spp. strains. Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus sp. strain sp. strain sp. strain sp. strain sp. strain P. marcusii P. carotinifaciens P. solventivorans R-1512 R1534 R114 R-1506 MBIC3966 DSM 11574^(T) E-396^(T) DSM 6637^(T) α-Cyclodextrin − − − − − − − − Dextrin − − − − − − − −(±) Glycogen − − − − − − − − Tween 40 − − − − − − −(?) − Tween 80 − − − − − − − − N-Acetyl-D- − − − − − − − − galactosamine N-Acetyl-D- − − − − − − − −(?) glucosamine Adonitol − − − − − + + − L-Arabinose − − − − − + − + D-Arabitol + + + + ±(+) + + − Cellobiose ±(+) ±(+) −(?) −(+) −(±) + + −(+) i-Erythritol − − − − − + + − D-Fructose + + + + − + + + L-Fucose − − − − − − + − D-Galactose + + + ±(+) ±(+) + + −(±) Gentiobiose − − − − − + + −(±) α-D-Glucose + + + ±(+) −(+) + ±(+) + m-Inositol + + + −(+) −(+) + −(±) − α-Lactose + ±(+) −(+) −(+) −(+) + + ±(+) Lactulose −(±) −(+) −(+) −(±) − + + −(+) Maltose + + −(+) −(+) −(±) + + −(+) D-Mannitol + + + + −(+) + + −(±) D-Mannose + + + + −(±) + + −(+) D-Melibiose + + + −(+) −(+) + + −(?) β- − − − − − + + + Methylglucoside D-Psicose −(+) ±(+) ±(+) − −(+) − ± − D-Raffinose − − − − − −(+) + − L-Rhamnose − − − − − − − −(?) D-Sorbitol − − − − − + + − Sucrose + + ±(+) −(+) − + + + D-Trehalose + + −(+) −(+) −(+) + + + Turanose −(+) −(+) − − − + + + Xylitol − − − − − + + − Methylpyruvate ± − ± −(?) ± − + −(±) Mono- ±(+) ± −(±) −(+) −(±) −(+) + − methylsuccinate Acetic acid − − ± − − − − + Cis-aconitic − ± ± − − ± − − acid Citric acid − ± ± − − ± − − Formic acid − − − − − − − − D-Galactonic −(±) −(±) −(±) − − − −(±) −(?) acid lactone D-Galacturonic − − − − − −(+) −(±) − acid D-Gluconic acid + + + −(±) −(±) + + + D-Glucosaminic − − − − − − − − acid D-Glucuronic ± + + −(±) − ±(+) − − acid α-Hydroxybutyric −(±) − −(±) − −(+) − − − acid β-Hydroxybutyric + + + −(±) ± −(+) + + acid γ-Hydroxybutyric − − − − − − − − acid p-Hydroxyphenylacetic − − − − − − − −(+) acid Itaconic acid − − − − − − − − α-Ketobutyric − − − − − − − −(±) acid α-Ketoglutaric − − − −(±) −(?) −(±) −(+) −(±) acid α-Ketovaleric − − − − − − − − acid D,L-Lactic acid − − − − − − − − methyl ester Malonic acid − − − − − − − − Propionic acid − ± ± − − ± + + Quinic acid − − − − − + + − D-Saccharic −(+) ± − −(±) − − − − acid Sebacic acid −(+) −(+) −(+) −(+) −(±) − −(+) − Succinic acid − − − − − −(+) ± −(?) Bromosuccinic − − − − − ± − − acid Succinamic acid − − − − − −(+) −(+) − Glucuronamide − − − − −(±) − − − Alaninamide − − − − − −(+) + − D-Alanine − − −(+) − − − − − L-Alanine + + + + − −(+) + + L-Alanyl-glycine −(+) − −(+) − − − −(+) −(?) L-Asparagine + + ±(+) + ±(+) − + − L-Aspartic acid + + ±(+) −(+) −(+) − + − L-Glutamic acid + + + + ±(+) −(+) + −(+) Glycyl-L-aspartic − − − −(±) − − − − acid Glycyl-L-glutamic −(?) − − −(?) − − −(±) − acid L-Histidine − − − − − −(?) − + Hydroxy-L-proline − − − − − − − + L-Leucine −(±) −(+) −(+) −(+) − −(+) −(?) −(+) L-Ornithine − −(+) ±(+) −(±) − − −(+) − L-Phenylalanine − − − − − − − − L-Proline + + + + − −(+) + + L-Pyroglutamic + + + + ±(+) −(+) + − acid D-Serine − − − − − − − − L-Serine ± ±(+) −(+) −(±) −(+) −(+) −(+) + L-Threonine − − − − − −(+) − − D,L-Carnitine − − − − − − − − γ-Aminobutyric − − − − −(+) − −(+) −(+) acid Urocanic acid − − − − − − − −(+) Inosine − −(±) − − − −(±) −(+) −(+) Uridine − − − − − −(±) −(+) − Thymidine − − − − − −(±) −(±) − Phenylethylamine − − − − − − − − Putresceine − − − − − − − − 2-Aminoethanol − − − − − − − − 2,3-Butanediol − − − − − − − − Glycerol + + + −(+) − + + − D,L-α- − − − − −(±) − − − Glycerolphosphate Glucose-1- − − − − − − −(±) − phosphate Glucose-6- − − − − − − − − phosphate

TABLE 10 Biochemical features of Paracoccus spp. strains. Paracoccus P. P. sp. strain Paracoccus sp. Paracoccus sp. Paracoccus sp. Paracoccus sp. P. marcusii carotinifaciens solventivorans R-1512 strain R1534 strain R114 strain R-1506 strain MBIC3966 DSM 11574^(T) E-396^(T) DSM 6637^(T) Reduction − − − − − − − + nitrate to nitrite Reduction − − − − − − − + nitrate to nitrogen Indole from − − − − − − − − tryptophan Fermentation of − − − − − − − − glucose Arginine − − − − − − − − hydrolase Urease Slow + 5 − − Slow + 5 + − − − days days Esculine weak Slow + 5 Slow + 5 + + + + + hydrolysis days days (β-glucosidase) Gelatine − − − − − − − − hydrolysis (protease) β-Galactosidase + + + + + + + −

Physiological tests. Several physiological and morphological tests were performed on the five strains of the new Paracoccus species, along with Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) , Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) and Paracoccus solventivorans DSM 6637^(T). The methods used for each test were as follows.

Temperature range for growth. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12. A cell suspension with a density of between 1-2 McFarland units was prepared in sterile distilled water. From this suspension, 3 drops were transferred onto the agar surface of LMG medium 12. One drop was diluted by streaking, the other 2 drops were left undisturbed. The plates were incubated under aerobic conditions at 10° C., 25° C., 30° C., 33° C., 37° C. and 40° C., and checked for growth after 24 hours, 48 hours and 5 days. Growth was determined as visual growth (confluent in the drops and as colonies in the streaks with diluted inoculum) compared to the growth at 30° C. (i.e., the “control”). Scoring was done (vs. the control plate) as follows; better growth (++), good (equivalent to the control) growth (+), weaker growth (±), poor growth (±), and no growth (−). Results in parentheses are those observed in the streaks if different from the confluent growth in the undisturbed drops.

Salt tolerance. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12. A cell suspension with a density of between 1-2 McFarland units was prepared in sterile distilled water. From this suspension, 3 drops were transferred onto the agar surface of LMG medium 12 supplemented with NaCl to reach final concentrations of 3%, 6% and 8%. One drop was diluted by streaking, the other 2 drops were left undisturbed. The plates were incubated under aerobic conditions at 28° C. and checked for growth after 24 hours, 48 hours and 5 days. Growth was determined as visual growth (confluent in the drops and as colonies in the streaks with diluted inoculum) compared to the growth without added NaCl (control). Scoring was done (vs. the control plate) as follows; better growth (++), good (equivalent to the control) growth (+), weaker growth (±), poor growth (±), and no growth (−). Results in parentheses are those observed in the streaks if different from the confluent growth in the undisturbed drops.

pH Range for growth. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. in LMG medium 12. A cell suspension with a density of between 1-2 McFarland units was prepared in sterile distilled water. From this suspension, 3 drops were transferred into tubes containing 10 ml liquid LMG medium 12 with modified pH, giving final pH values after autoclaving of pH 6.1, pH 6.3, pH 7.0, pH 7.7, pH 8.1 and pH 9.1. The liquid cultures were incubated aerobically (with shaking) at 28° C. Growth was checked at 24 hours, 48 hours, 3 days and 6 days. Growth was determined as increased turbidity (measured as % transmission using the BIOLOG turbidimeter) compared to growth at pH 7.0 (control). Scoring was done (vs. the control) as follows; better growth (++), good (equivalent to the control) growth (+), weaker growth (±), poor growth (±), and no growth (−).

Starch hydrolysis. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A loopful of cells was taken from the plate and transferred as one streak onto the agar surface of LMG medium 12 supplemented with 0.2% soluble starch. Plates were then incubated under aerobic conditions at 28° C. When the strains had developed good growth (after 48 hours), the plate was flooded with lugol solution (0.5% I₂ and 1% KI in distilled water). Hydrolysis was determined as a clear zone alongside the growth (in contrast to the blue color of the agar where starch was not hydrolyzed).

Denitrification. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A loopful of cells was taken from the plate and stabbed into tubes containing semi-solid (0.1% agar) LMG medium 12 supplemented with 1% KNO₃. The plates were incubated at 28° C. for 5 days. Denitrification (N₂ from nitrate) was determined as gas formation alongside the stab.

Growth under anaerobiosis without electron acceptor added. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A loopful of cells was taken from the plate and streaked onto the agar surface of LMG medium 12. The agar plates were incubated under anaerobic conditions (ca. 10% CO₂+ca. 90% N₂) at 30° C. Plates were checked for growth after 24 hours and after 5 days. Growth was determined visually and compared to the aerobic (control) condition., Scoring was done (vs. the control) as follows; better growth (++), good (equivalent to the control) growth (+), weaker growth (±), poor growth (±), and no growth (−).

Growth under anaerobic conditions with glucose added (fermentation). Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A loopful of cells was taken from the plate and stabbed into tubes containing the basal agar medium of Hugh and Leifson (J. Bacteriol. 66, 24-26, 1953). Paraffin oil was added to the top of the medium, and the tubes were incubated at 30° C. Tubes were checked for growth and acid formation after 48 hours and after 5 days. Growth was determined visually. Scoring was done as follows; good growth (+), poor growth (±), and no growth (−).

Growth under anaerobic conditions with KNO₃ as electron acceptor. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A loopful of cells was taken from the plate and streaked onto the agar surface of LMG medium 12 supplemented with 0.1% KNO₃. The plates were incubated under anaerobic conditions (ca. 10% CO₂+ca. 90% N₂) at 30° C., and checked for growth after 3 days. Growth was determined as visual growth compared to the aerobic (control) condition. Scoring was done (vs. the control) as follows; better growth (++), good (equivalent to the control) growth (+), weaker growth (±), poor growth (±), and no growth (−).

Catalase and oxidase reactions. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12 plates. A positive result for catalase activity was the production of gas bubbles after suspending a colony in one drop of 10% H₂O₂. A positive result for oxidase activity was the development of a purple-red color after rubbing a colony on filter paper soaked with 1% tetramethylparaphenylene.

Colony pigmentation. Cells were grown for 5 days at 28° C. on LMG medium 12. Color of colonies was observed visually.

Cell morphology and motility. Cells were grown for 24 hours at 28° C. on LMG medium 12. Cell suspensions were made in sterile saline. Cell morphology and motility were observed microscopically using an Olympus light microscope equipped with phase contrast optics (magnification 1000×).

The results of the physiological and morphological tests are summarized in Table 11. The five strains of the new Paracoccus species responded essentially identically in all physiological and morphological tests performed. The tests that gave identical responses for all five strains of the new Paracoccus species and that allowed discrimination of these organisms from Paracoccus marcusii DSM 11574^(T) and/or Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T) were: growth at 40° C., growth with 8% NaCl, growth at pH 9.1, and colony pigmentation.

Zeaxanthin production in strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506 strains. Strains R-1512, R1534, R114, and R-1506 were grown in ME medium, which contains (per liter distilled water): 5 g glucose, 10 g yeast extract, 10 g tryptone, 30 g NaCl and 5 g MgSO₄.7H₂O. The pH of the medium was adjusted to 7.2 with 5N NaOH before sterilizing by autoclaving. All cultures (25-ml volume in 250-ml baffled Erlenmeyer flasks with plastic caps) were grown at 28° C. with shaking at 200 rpm. Seed cultures were inoculated from frozen glycerolized stocks and grown overnight. Aliquots were transferred to the experimental flasks to achieve an initial optical density at 660 nm (OD₆₆₀) of 0.16. Cultures were then grown at 28° C. with shaking at 200 rpm. Growth was monitored throughout the cultivation and at 6, 10 (or 15 for strain R114), and 24 hours, an aliquot of the culture was removed for analysis of carotenoids by the method described in Example 1.

A representative growth profile of the four strains is shown in FIG. 6. The doubling times of strains R-1512, R1534 and R-1506 under these conditions were 0.85 hours, 1.15 hours and 1.05 hours, respectively. Strain R114 reproducibly exhibited a biphasic growth profile; in the representative experiment shown in FIG. 6 the doubling time of strain R114 in the initial phase was 1.4 hours while the doubling time in the second phase was 3.2 hours.

Table 12 shows the zeaxanthin production and Specific Formation (zeaxanthin production normalized to OD₆₆₀) by the Paracoccus sp. strains in ME medium. The data are averages of four independent experiments, and within each experiment each strain was tested in duplicate flasks. The improved zeaxanthin production in the classically-derived mutant strains R1534 and R114 compared to the parental strain R-1512 is clearly shown. Zeaxanthin production by strain R-1506 was approximately the same as strain R-1512. No other carotenoids were detected in any of the cultures.

TABLE 11 Physiological characteristics of Paracoccus spp. strains Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus Paracoccus sp. sp. strain sp. strain sp. strain sp. strain P. marcusii P. carotinifaciens P. solventivorans strain R-1512 R1534 R114 R-1506 MBIC3966 DSM 11574^(T) E-396^(T) DSM 6637^(T) Growth at 10° C. After 24 h − − − − − − − − After 5 days ±(±) ±(±) ±(−) ±(±) ±(−) ±(±) ±(±) ±(±) Growth at 25° C. After 24 h + + + + +(±) +(±) +(±) +(−) After 5 days + + + + + + + + Growth at 30° C. After 24 h + + + + + + + + After 5 days + + + + + + + + Growth at 33° C. After 24 h + + + + + + + + After 5 days + + + + + + + + Growth at 37° C. After 24 h + + +(±) + + ±(−) ±(−) + After 5 days + + + + + ±(−) ±(±) + Growth at 40° C. After 24 h + +(±) +(−) +(±) ±(−) − − +(*) After 5 days + +(±) +(−) + +(−) − − +(*) Growth with 3% NaCl After 24 h + + + + + + + ± After 5 days + + + + + + + + Growth with 6% NaCl After 24 h +(±) ±(±) ±(±) + ±(±) ±(−) ±(−) − After 5 days + + + + +(*) +(±) +(±) − Growth with 8% NaCl After 24 h +(±) ±(±) ±(−) +(±) ±(±) − − − After 5 days + + + + +(*) ±(−) ±(−) − Growth at pH 6.1 After 24 h + + + + − − − − After 6 days + + + + + + + + Growth at pH 6.3 After 24 h + + + + + ± + ± After 6 days + + + + + + + + Growth at pH 7.0 After 24 h + + + + + + + + After 6 days + + + + + + + + Growth at pH 7.7 After 24 h + + + + + ± ± ± After 6 days + + + + + + + + Growth at pH 8.1 After 24 h + + + + + − − ± After 6 days + + + + + + + + Growth at pH 9.1 After 24 h ± + − − + − − − After 6 days + + + + + − + + Starch hydrolysis − − − − − − − − Denitrification − − − − − − − + Growth in − − − − − − − − anaerobiosis without electron acceptor added Growth in − − − − − − − ± anaerobiosis with glucose added (fermentation) Growth in − − − − − − − − anaerobiosis with KNO₃ added Catalase reaction + + + + + + + + Oxidase reaction + + + + + + + + Gram stain − − − − − − − − Motility − − − − − − − − Colony yellow- yellow- yellow- yellow- yellow- orange- orange- pale pigmentation orange orange orange orange orange pink pink yellow Cell short short short coccoid short short short short morphology rod to rod to rod to rod to rod rod rod coccoid coccoid coccoid coccoid Cell 0.8 × 1.2 0.8 × 1.2 0.8 × 1.2 0.9 × 1.1 0.8 × 1.2 0.8 × 1.5 0.9 × 2.0 0.8 × 1.5 dimensions (μm) to 1.5 to 2.0 to 2.5 to 2.0

TABLE 12 Zeaxanthin production by Paracoccus sp. strains R-1512, R1534, R114 and R-1506. Specific Formation Zeaxanthin (mg/l) (mg zeaxanthin/OD₆₆₀) Standard Standard Strain Time (hours) Average Deviation Average Deviation R-1512 6 0.23 0.10 0.10 0.04 10 2.05 0.70 0.25 0.08 24 3.78 0.59 0.38 0.06 R1534 6 0.75 0.10 0.26 0.02 10 3.45 0.57 0.43 0.07 24 9.13 0.97 0.95 0.06 R114 6 0.65 0.17 0.86 0.24 15 7.53 1.12 1.13 0.21 24 19.7 1.82 2.68 0.20 R-1506 6 0.13 0.06 0.07 0.01 10 1.35 0.31 0.19 0.04 24 3.55 0.68 0.38 0.07

Example 3 IPP Biosynthesis via the Mevalonate Pathway in the Zeaxanthin-Producing Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

In order to determine the biosynthetic origin (i.e., the mevalonate or DXP pathway) of isoprenoid precursors in Paracoccus sp. strain R114, a “retrobiosynthesis” approach (Eisenreich, W. and Bacher, A. In: J. K. Setiow, (ed.) Genetic Engineering, Principles and Methods, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, Vol. 22, p. 121-153, 2000) was taken. This predictive approach for data analysis permits the unequivocal assessment of glucose catabolism from the analysis of a single down-stream natural product. In the present work, this involved growth of the bacterium in media containing various binary mixtures of unlabeled glucose and specific ¹³C-labeled glucoses, followed by purification of the zeaxanthin produced and analysis of the labeling patterns by NMR spectroscopy. Details of the methods used and the experimental results are given below.

Growth of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 for ¹³C labeling experiments. Unlabelled D-glucose monohydrate was purchased from Fluka (Milwaukee, Wis., USA). [U-¹³C₆]-D-Glucose was purchased from Isotec (Miamisburg, Ohio, USA), while [1-¹³C₁] D-glucose, [2-¹³C₁] D-glucose and [6-¹³C₁] D-glucose were from Cambridge Isotope Laboratories (Andover, Mass., USA). Yeast extract and peptone (from casein, pancreatically digested) were purchased from EM Science (Gibbstown, N.J., USA). All other salts and solvents were analytical grade and were purchased from standard chemicals suppliers.

All cultures were initiated from frozen cell suspensions (cell density of 12 OD₆₆₀ units, 25% glycerol, stored at −70° C.). One ml of thawed cell suspension was used to inoculate pre-cultures (500-ml baffled shake flasks) containing 100 ml of 362F/2medium having the following composition: 30 g/l D-glucose, 10 g/l yeast extract, 10 g/l peptone, 5 g/l NaCl, 2.5 g/l MgSO₄7H₂O, 0.75 g/l (NH₄)₂HPO₄, 0.625 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.2 g/l (NH₄)₂Fe(SO₄)₂.6H₂O, 187.5 mg/l CaCl₂.2H₂O, 15 mg/l ZnSO₄.7H₂O, 12.5 mg/l FeCl₃.6H₂O, 5 mg/l MnSO₄.H₂O, 0.5 mg/l NiSO₄.6H₂O, 15 mg/l Na-EDTA and 9.375 μl/l HCl (37% stock solution). The initial pH of the medium was 7.2.

The pre-culture was incubated at 28° C. with shaking at 200 rpm for 24 h, after which time the OD₆₆₀ was about 22 absorbance units. The main cultures were grown in Bioflo 3000 bioreactors (New Brunswick Scientific, Edison, N.J., USA) containing 362F/2 medium containing the following composition: 30 g/l total D-glucose (see below for ratios of ¹³C-labeled:unlabeled glucose), 20 g/l yeast extract, 10 g/l peptone, 10 g/l NaCl, 5 g/l MgSO₄.7H₂ 0, 1.5 g/l (NH₄)₂HPO₄, 1.25 g/l K₂HPO₄, 0.4 g/l (NH₄)₂Fe(SO₄)₂.6H₂O, 375 mg/l CaCl₂.2H_(O,) 30 mg/l ZnSO₄.7H₂O, 25 mg/l FeCl₃.6H₂O, 10 mg/l MnSO₄.H₂O, 1 mg/l NiSO₄.6H₂O, 30 mg/l Na-EDTA and 18.75 μl/l HCl (37% stock solution). The amounts of each ¹³C-labeled glucose used (expressed as a percentage of the total 30 g/l glucose in the medium) in four separate experiments were: Condition 1, 4% [U-¹³C₆] D-glucose; Condition 2, 50% [1-¹³C₁] D-glucose; Condition 3, 25% [2-¹³C₁] D-glucose+1% [U-¹³C₆] D-glucose; Condition 4, 25% [6-¹³C₁] D-glucose+1% [U-¹³C₆] D-glucose. A control with only unlabeled glucose was also included. For Conditions 1 and 2 (and the unlabeled control), the culture volume was 2 l, while the culture volume for Conditions 3 and 4 was 1 l. The bioreactors were inoculated with pre-culture (20 ml/l initial volume) and cultivation proceeded for 22-24 hours, at which time no glucose was left in the medium. Cultivation conditions were: 28° C., pH 7.2 (controlled with 25% H₃PO₄ and 28% NH₄OH), dissolved oxygen controlled (in a cascade with agitation) at a minimum of 40%, agitation rate and aeration rate 300 rpm (minimum) and 1 vvm, respectively.

Purification of zeaxanthin. At the end of the cultivations, the cultures were cooled down to 15° C. Five hundred ml of absolute ethanol was added per liter of culture and stirring was continued at 100 rpm for 20 min. The treated culture was centrifuged for 20 min. at 5000×g, and the supernatant was discarded. The wet pellet was then extracted with 5 volumes of THF for 20 min. with stirring. The extracted mixture was centrifuged, the supernatant saved and the resulting pellet extracted a second time with 1 volume THF under the same conditions and again centrifuged. The supernatants (extracts) were combined and concentrated to 50 ml by rotary evaporation. Five milliliters of hexane were added to the concentrated THF solution. After mixing, the system formed an emulsion that could be separated by centrifugation. The aqueous phase was collected, diluted with an equal volume of saturated NaCl solution and re-extracted with dichloromethane. The dichloromethane phase was collected and combined with the THF/hexane phase. The mixture of organic extracts was concentrated again in a rotary evaporator to remove dichloromethane. The solution was then applied to a silica gel column and eluted with a mixture of n-hexane and ether (1:1). A small light yellow band eluted first and was discarded. The main zeaxanthin product eluted in a broad band that moved slowly in the column. About 2 liters of solvent was needed to elute the main band completely. The eluate was collected in a round-bottomed flask and the solvent was removed by rotary evaporation at 40° C. The residue was dissolved in a small amount of dichloroethane at 40° C. and the solution was then allowed to cool slowly. Hexane was added to the mixture drop-wise until a turbidity was observed. The crystallization was complete within 48 hours at 4° C. The crystals were collected on a paper filter, washed with cold methanol and dried under vacuum.

NMR studies. Zeaxanthin was analyzed by NMR spectroscopy. For reference, the chemical structure of zeaxanthin, including numbering of carbon atoms, is shown in FIG. 7. ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR spectra were recorded at 500.13 MHz and 125.6 MHz, respectively, with a Bruker DRX 500 spectrometer. Acquisition and processing parameters for one-dimensional experiments and two-dimensional INADEQUATE experiments were according to standard Bruker software (XWINNMR). The solvent was deuterated chloroform. The chemical shifts were referenced to solvent signals.

¹³C NMR spectra of the isotope labeled zeaxanthin samples and of the zeaxanthin sample at natural ¹³C abundance were recorded under the same experimental conditions. Integrals were determined for every ¹³C NMR signal, and the signal integral for each respective carbon atom in the labeled compound was referenced to that of the natural abundance material, thus affording relative ¹³C abundances for each position in the labeled molecular species. The relative abundances were then converted into absolute abundances from ¹³C coupling satellites in the ¹H NMR signal of H-18 at 1.71 ppm. In the ¹³C NMR spectrum of the multiply-labeled zeaxanthin sample each satellite was integrated separately. The integral of each respective satellite pair was then referenced to the total signal integral of a given carbon atom. Zeaxanthin comprises a total of eight isoprenoid moieties (2 DMAPP units and 6 IPP units, refer to FIG. 1B); only 20 ¹³C NMR signals are observed due to chemical shift degeneracy.

In the experiment with the mixture of [U-¹³C₆] glucose and unlabeled glucose (1:7.5; w/w), all carbon atoms of zeaxanthin were labeled and showed satellites due to ¹³C¹³C couplings (Table 13). FIG. 8 shows the signals representing the zeaxanthin atoms derived from the DMAPP starter unit. The signals of 4 carbon atoms shown in FIG. 8 have intense satellites due to ¹³C¹³C couplings (61.2±0.6% in the global NMR signal intensity of a given atom, Table 13, FIG. 9). The signal accounting for the methyl atoms C-17/C-17′ displayed only weak ¹³C-coupled satellites at a relative intensity of 6%. The central signals represent material derived from unlabeled glucose. The signals showed no evidence of long-range coupling. Carbon connectivity was easily gleaned from ¹³C¹³C coupling constants (Table 13) and from two-dimensional INADEQUATE experiments.

Three of the carbon atoms in FIG. 8 acquired label from [6-¹³C₁] glucose. The other two carbons were labeled from [2-¹³C_] glucose. No significant amounts of label were contributed to zeaxanthin by [1-¹³C₁] glucose.

The ¹³C abundance for all non-isochronous carbon atoms was determined by comparison with spectra of unlabeled zeaxanthin and by evaluation of the ¹H¹³C coupling satellites in ¹H NMR spectra (Table 13). The fraction of jointly transferred carbon atom pairs in the experiment with [U-¹³C₆] glucose was determined by integration of the coupling satellites.

The labeling patterns of the IPP building block (FIG. 9) can be reconstructed accurately as shown by the standard deviations found for the reconstructed IPP precursor. The re-constructed labeling patterns of DMAPP and IPP were identical within the experimental limits.

TABLE 13 NMR results for ¹³C labeled zeaxanthin produced by Paracoccus sp. strain R114 supplied with ¹³C labeled glucoses. ¹³C-labeled glucose precursor δ [1-¹³C]- [2-¹³C]- [6-¹³C]- [U-¹³C₆]glucose Position ¹³C, ppm J_(cc), Hz % ¹³C % ¹³C % ¹³C % ¹³C % ¹³C¹³C  1, 1′ 37.13 36.0 (16, 16′) 1.10 10.71 2.22 3.47 61.2  2, 2′ 48.46 35.8 (3, 3′) 1.20 2.58 10.27 3.65 61.1  3, 3′ 65.10 35.8 (2, 2′) 1.12 12.47 2.38 3.64 60.4  4, 4′ 42.57 37.1 1.27 2.59 10.63 3.89 8.4  5, 5′ 126.17 44.2 (18, 18′) 1.14 12.45 3.19 3.68 61.1  6, 6′ 137.77 56.4 (7, 7′) 1.30 2.15 9.98 3.60 60.4  7, 7′ 125.59 56.2 (6, 6′) 1.12 10.11 2.82 4.09 61.4  8, 8′ 138.50 71.6, 55.7 1.28 2.24 9.95 3.92 4.3, 5.0  9, 9′ 135.69 43.1 (19, 19′) 1.12 9.53 2.95 3.84 61.7 10, 10′ 131.31 59.7 (11, 11′) 1.21 3.18 9.61 3.80 61.1 11, 11′ 124.93 59.7 (10, 10′) 1.10 8.79 2.70 4.02 61.0 12, 12′ 137.57 70.5 1.20 2.01 8.80 3.59 5.1 13, 13′ 136.48 43.1 (20, 20′) 1.12 9.86 3.59 3.93 61.4 14, 14′ 132.60 60.4 (15, 15′) 1.21 2.83 10.51 3.77 59.5 15, 15′ 130.08 60.4 (14, 14′) 1.12 9.18 3.33 4.02 61.2 16, 16′ 30.26 36.3 (1, 1′) 1.27 3.19 12.31 3.91 62.0 17, 17′ 28.73 34.9 (1, 1′) 1.30 3.43 12.31 3.88 6.0 18, 18′ 21.62 44.2 (5, 5′) 1.27 3.01 11.66 3.70 62.0 19, 19′ 12.82 43.1 (9, 9′) 1.29 3.12 11.64 3.86 62.3 20, 20′ 12.75 42.9 (13, 13′) 1.33 3.21 11.99 3.75 62.1

The experimental labeling patterns determined above can be compared with various predictions, taking into account not only the mevalonate pathway vs. the DXP pathway for isoprenoid biosynthesis, but also different pathways of glucose metabolism. Eubacteria typically utilize glucose primarily via the glycolytic pathway or via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. Glycolysis generates two triose phosphate molecules from glucose. FIG. 10 (Scheme A) shows that the C-1 and C-6 of glucose are both diverted to the 3-position of the triose phosphates produced during glycolysis. On the other hand, in the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, glucose is converted to a mixture of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate and pyruvate. The C-1 of glucose is exclusively diverted to C-1 of pyruvate, and the C-6 of glucose is exclusively diverted to C-3 of glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate (Scheme B in FIG. 10).

Intermediates and products of the glycolytic and Entner-Doudoroff pathways serve as starting material for both isoprenoid biosynthetic pathways. With regard to the mevalonate pathway, pyruvate as well as triose phosphate can be converted to the precursor acetyl-CoA. Glucose catabolism via the glycolytic pathway diverts label from C-1 as well as C-6 of glucose to the methyl group of acetyl-CoA (FIG. 10, Scheme A). Glucose catabolism via the Entner-Doudoroff pathway results in loss of C-1 from glucose during the transformation of pyruvate to acetyl-CoA (FIG. 10, Scheme B).

Schemes A and B in FIG. 11 show the predicted labeling patterns for IPP produced from acetyl-CoA through the mevalonate pathway. Schemes A and B further assume glucose metabolism via glycolysis and the Entner-Doudoroff pathways, respectively. Schemes C and D assume IPP production via the DXP pathway and further assume glucose metabolism via. glycolysis (C) or the Entner-Doudoroff pathways (D). FIG. 12, Schemes A-D, shows the predicted labeling patterns for zeaxanthin produced from IPP formed via the corresponding schemes A-D in FIG. 11, and further shows (Scheme E) the actual observed labeling patterns of zeaxanthin purified from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 grown in the presence of the glucoses labeled in different positions.

The experimentally observed enrichment and ¹³C¹³C coupling patterns of the zeaxanthin produced by Paracoccus sp. strain R114 were in perfect agreement with the labeling pattern required for zeaxanthin biosynthesis by the combination of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway and the mevalonate pathway. If both the glycolytic and Entner-Doudoroff pathways had been simultaneously operative under the experimental conditions used, at least some label from [1-¹³C₁] glucose should have been contributed to the zeaxanthin. Furthermore, the mevalonate pathway can at best contribute blocks of two carbon atoms to terpenoids, while in the DXP pathway three carbon units can be delivered to isoprenoids via triose phosphate precursors. Although such three-carbon blocks become separated by the rearrangement involved in the DXP pathway, blocks of three labeled carbon atoms can still be recognized via long-range coupling. Corresponding ¹³C-¹³C long-range couplings have been observed in the biosynthesis of the carotenoid lutein from [2,3,4,5-¹³C₄] 1-deoxy-D-xylulose by cultured plant cells (Cantharantus roseus) (Arigoni et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 94, 10600-10605, 1997). No such long-range coupling was observed in the present experiments with zeaxanthin produced by Paracoccus sp. strain R114.

It should be noted that while the results presented here confirm isoprenoid production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 via the mevalonate pathway, and indicate that, under the growth conditions used, there, was little or no glucose metabolism via glycolysis, they do not rule out the possibility of some metabolism of glucose via the pentose phosphate pathway in addition to the Entner-Doudoroff pathway. Quantitative determination of glucose metabolism via the latter two pathways could be obtained by analysis of labeling patterns of pyruvate-derived amino acids (as was done for Paracoccus denitrificans (Dunstan et al., Biomedical and Environ. Mass Spectrometry, 19:369-381 (1990))0.

Example 4 Cloning and Sequencing of the Genes Encoding IPP Isomerase and the Enzymes of the Mevalonate Pathway from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

Culture conditions. Paracoccus sp. strain R114 was grown at 28° C. in F-medium (10 g/l tryptone, 10 g/l yeast extract, 30 g/l NaCl, 10 g/l D-glucose, 5 g/l MgSO₄.7H₂O, pH 7.0)or in the pre-culture medium described in Example 3 above. Liquid cultures were grown in a rotary shaker at 200 rpm.

Isolation of genomic DNA. A 600-ml culture of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 was centrifuged for 10 minutes at 10,000×g at 4° C. and the pellet was washed once with 200 ml lysis buffer (0.1M NaCl, 50 mM EDTA, 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5) and once with 100 ml lysis buffer. The final pellet was resuspended in 20 ml lysis buffer containing 50 mg lysozyme and 1 mg RNase A (DNase free). After incubation for 15 minutes at 37° C., 1.5 ml of 20% sodium N-lauroyl-sarcosinate and 2.25 mg of proteinase K were added. After incubation at 50° C. for 30-60 minutes, the lysate was extracted with one volume of buffer-saturated phenol, pH 7.5-7.8 (LifeTechnologies, Rockville, Md., USA) by gentle but thorough mixing. The emulsion was centrifuged for 20 minutes at 30,000×g and the aqueous phase was re-extracted with phenol. The phases were separated as before and the aqueous phase was extracted twice with one volume phenol:chloroform (1:1). At this step centrifugation for 20 minutes at 3,200×g in a swinging bucket rotor was sufficient to obtain satisfactory phase separation. After a final extraction with one volume of chloroform, 0.1 volume 3M sodium-acetate (pH 5.2) was added and the solution was overlaid with 2 volumes ice-cold ethanol. The precipitated DNA was spooled with a glass-rod, soaked in 70% ethanol for 5 minutes, rinsed with chloroform and then air dried for 5-10 minutes. The DNA was resuspended overnight in 5 ml TE (10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 7.5, 1 mM EDTA). Since the solution was yellow due to traces of zeaxanthin, the organic extractions and the spooling were repeated as above to obtain a clear preparation.

Isolation of λ-DNA: The Qiagen® Lambda Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) was used following the manufacturer's instructions.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR): Oligonucleotides were purchased from LifeTechnologies (Rockville, Md., USA). PCR was performed in a GeneAmp® PCR system 9700 (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) using the GC-rich PCR system (Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany) according to the manufacturers instructions. Typically, the MgCl₂ concentration used was 1.5 mM and the resolution solution was added to 1M final concentration.

DNA Labeling and detection: The PCR DIG Probe Synthesis Kit and the DIG Luminescent Detection Kit were used for DNA labeling and detection, respectively (both obtained from Roche Molecular Biochemicals, Mannheim, Germany)

DNA sequencing: Sequencing reactions were performed using the BigDye® DNA sequencing kit (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA) according to the manufacturers instructions. Sequencing reactions were purified on DyeEx™ spin columns (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) and fragment separation and detection was done with an ABI Prism™ 310 Genetic Analyzer (PE Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif., USA).

λ-library: A custom made library with partially Sau3AI digested Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA in lambda FIX® II was purchased from Stratagene (La Jolla, Calif., USA).

Cloning, sequencing and characterization of the mevalonate pathway gene cluster from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. One of the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway, mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase, contains highly conserved regions spanning several amino acids. Three such regions were chosen from an alignment of all available eubacterial mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylases and oligonucleotides were designed using the preferred codon usage found in the carotenoid gene cluster of Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 (Table 14).

The oligonucleotides designed from two homology regions are shown in Table 15. To reduce the degree of degeneracy, sets of oligonucleotides were designed from each peptide. For instance, oligonucleotides mvd-103a-d differ only in the third nucleotide from the 3′ end, each accounting for one possible codon for glycine (GGA, although rarely used, was included because of the close proximity to the 3′ end). Alternate amino acids were accounted for by designing oligonucleotides to both residues, e.g. oligonucleotides mvd-101a and mvd-101b are specific for leucine or isoleucine, respectively, in the second position of peptide 1 (Table 15). PCR with oligonucleotides mvd-101 and mvd-104 or mvd-106, using Paracoccus sp. strain 114 DNA as template, gave a product of the expected size. The PCR product was cloned in the vector pCR®2.1-TOPO (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA) and sequenced (hatched box in FIG. 13). The cloned fragment was used as a probe for a Southern analysis of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA and was found to hybridize to a BamHI-SalI fragment of about 950 bp (data not shown). Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA was cut with BamHI and SalI and the fragments were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. The region around 950 bp was isolated and cloned in the vector pUC19. This partial library was then screened using the mvd-PCR fragment as a probe and the insert of a positive clone (box C in FIG. 13) was sequenced. In parallel, a λ-library prepared from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA was screened using the mvd-PCR fragment as a probe. DNA was isolated from two positive λ-clones and cut with BamHI and SalI or EcoRI and SalI. A number of the restriction fragments were isolated and cloned in the vector pUC19. Several of the fragments contained sequences homologous to genes encoding proteins of the mevalonate pathway (boxes A, B, D, L, M in FIG. 13). The clones connecting these individual sequences (FIG. 13, boxes 26-1, 22-1, 14-1, 4-3, 49-1 and mvd11-3) were obtained by PCR with primers derived from the sequences of the cloned restriction fragments using the DNA of the λ-clones as template. The assembled sequence from all fragments (SEQ ID NO:42, 44, 46, 48, 50, and 52)¹ and the sequences of the encoded proteins are shown in FIG. 14 (SEQ ID Nos:43, 45, 47, 49, 51, and 53). ¹Due to a limitation of the PatentIn Program, operons with overlapping genes cannot be shown as a single sequence. Thus, for each gene in the mevalonate operon shown in FIG. 14, the entire nucleotide sequence of the operon is repeated for each gene. Accordingly, SEQ ID Nos:42, 44, 46, 48, 50, and 52 are identical. For purposes of the present invention, we use SEQ ID NO:42 to refer to the nucleotide sequence of the mevalonate operon.

The arrangement of the mevalonate pathway genes in the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 is unique when compared to known mevalonate gene clusters of other bacteria (FIG. 15). Besides Paracoccus sp. strain R114, only Borrelia burgdorferi and Streptomyces sp. strain CL190 (Takagi et al., J. Bacteriol. 182, 4153-4157, 2000) have all mevalonate genes in a single operon (Wilding et al., J. Bacteriol. 182, 4319-4327, 2000). In Streptococcus pyrogenes all mevalonate genes are clustered in a single locus but they are grouped in two operons. All other species have two loci with the two kinases and the mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase grouped in one operon and the HMG-CoA synthase and the HMG-CoA reductase on a second locus, either forming an operon (in Streptococcus pneumoniae) or as separate transcription units. All species except the members of Staphylococcus have an additional gene linked with the mevalonate cluster, which was recently identified as an IPP isomerase (idi gene in Streptomyces sp. strain CL190) (Kaneda et al., Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98, 932-937, 2001). The two Enterococcus species

TABLE 14 Codon usage in Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 carotenoid (crt) genes Amino acid Codon Number used % Used A—Ala GCT 3 1.4 GCC 96 46.2 GCA 15 7.2 GCG 94 45.2 C—Cys TGT 0 0.0 TGC 15 100.0 D—Asp GAT 46 38.0 GAC 75 62.0 E—Glu GAA 17 25.4 GAG 50 74.6 F—Phe TTT 3 5.6 TTC 51 94.4 G—Gly GGT 16 10.8 GGC 87 58.8 GGA 5 3.4 GGG 40 27.0 H—His CAT 30 56.6 CAC 23 43.4 I—Ile ATT 5 6.4 ATC 72 92.3 ATA 1 1.3 K—Lys AAA 4 14.3 AAG 24 85.7 L—Leu TTA 0 0.0 TTG 5 2.9 CTT 15 8.7 CTC 11 6.4 CTA 1 0.6 CTG 140 81.4 M—Met ATG 49 100.0 N—Asn AAT 4 20.0 AAC 16 80.0 P—Pro CCT 2 2.3 CCC 41 47.7 CCA 3 3.5 CCG 40 46.5 Q—Gln CAA 6 11.3 CAG 47 88.7 R—Arg CGT 11 7.3 CGC 103 68.2 CGA 2 1.3 CGG 26 17.2 AGA 2 1.3 AGG 7 4.6 S—Ser TCT 1 1.1 TCC 17 19.5 TCA 0 0.0 TCG 39 44.8 AGT 2 2.3 AGC 28 32.2 T—Thr ACT 2 2.7 ACC 36 48.9 ACA 4 5.3 ACG 33 44.0 V—Val GTT 6 5.7 GTC 61 57.5 GTA 1 0.9 GTG 38 35.8 W—Trp TGG 27 100.0 Y—Tyr TAT 28 62.2 TAC 17 37.8

TABLE 15 Oligonucleotides designed from two conserved bacterial Mvd peptides. Peptide 1 AlaLeuIleLysTyrTrpGlyLys (SEQ ID NO:23) Ile² Nucleotide sequence¹ CCSCTGATCAARTAYTGGGGBAARATC (SEQ ID NO:24) Oligonucleotide mvd-101a GCSCTGATCAARTAYTGGGG (SEQ ID NO:25) (5′-3′) Oligonucleotide mvd-101b GCSATCATCAARTAYTGGGG (SEQ ID NO:26) (5′-3′) Oligonucleotide mvd-103a ATCAARTAYTGGGGTAA (SEQ ID NO:27) (5′-3′) Oligonucleotide mvd-103b ATCAARTAYTGGGGCAA (SEQ ID NO:28) (5′-3′) Oligonucleotide mvd-103c ATCAARTAYTGGGGGAA (SEQ ID NO:29) (5′-3′) Oligonucleotide mvd-103d ATCAARTAYTGGGGAAA (SEQ ID NO:30) (5′-3′) Peptide 2 ThrMetAspAlaGlyProAsnVal (SEQ ID NO:31) Gln² Nucleotide sequence¹ ACSATGGAYGCSGGBCCSAAYGTS (SEQ ID NO:32) (5′-3′) CAR Complement (3′-5′) TGSTACCTRCGSCCVGGSTTRCAS (SEQ ID NO:33) GTY Oligonucleotide mvd-104a TGGTACCTACGSCCVGG (SEQ ID NO:34) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-104b TGGTACCTGCGSCCVGG (SEQ ID NO:35) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-104c TGCTACCTACGSCCVGG (SEQ ID NO:36) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-104d TGCTACCTGCGSCCVGG (SEQ ID NO:37) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-106a TACCTACGSCCVGGSTTRCA (SEQ ID NO:38) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-106b TACCTGCGSCCVGGSTTRCA (SEQ ID NO:39) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-106c TACCTACGSCCVGGSGTYCA (SEQ ID NO:40) (3′-5′) Oligonucleotide mvd-106d TACCTGCGSCCVGGSGTYCA (SEQ ID NO:41) (3′-5′) ¹using the preferred codons of Paracoccus sp. strain R1534, see table 1 ²alternate amino acid present in some enzyme S═C or G; R=A or G; Y═C or T; B═C or G or T; V=A or C or G and Staphylococcus haemolyticus have an acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase gene linked with the HMG-CoA reductase gene. In the Enterococcus species the latter two genes are fused.

The genes of the mevalonate operon from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 were identified by homology of the gene products to proteins in general databases. An alignment of the HMG-CoA reductase from Paracoccus sp. strains R114 (SEQ ID NO:43) and from three Streptomyces species (SEQ ID Nos:54-56) is shown in FIG. 16. There are two classes of HMG-CoA reductases (Bochar et al., Mol. Genet. Metab. 66, 122-127, 1999; Boucher et al., Mol. Microbiol. 37, 703-716, 2000). Eubacterial HMG-CoA reductases are generally of class II, whereas class I enzymes are found in eukaryotes and archaea. The Streptomyces and the Paracoccus HMG-CoA reductases together with the enzyme from Vibrio cholerae are the only eubacterial HMG-CoA reductases of class I known so far.

An alignment of the IPP isomerase (idi) from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (SEQ ID NO:45) with the best matches found in the EMBL database is shown in FIG. 17 (SEQ ID NOs:57-73). The first nine sequences are from eubacteria and the next eight sequences are from archaea. Interestingly, one eukaryotic species, the protozoan parasite Leishmania major (SEQ ID NO:73), also has a protein that is highly homologous. This is unexpected because other eukaryotes have a different idi, designated type 1 (Kaneda et al. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. 98, 932-937, 2001). A conserved hypothetical protein from Bacillus subtilis, YpgA, also has substantial homology but is considerably smaller than the type 2 idi's listed in FIG. 17. An alignment of bacterial HMG-CoA synthases is shown in FIG. 18 (SEQ ID NOs:47 and 74-84) and an alignment of bacterial mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylases is presented in FIG. 19 (SEQ ID NO:53 and 85-94). Two proteins from Myxococcus xanthus, Tac and Taf (database accession numbers q9xb06 and q9xb03, respectively) and a protein from B. subtilis, PksG, a putative polyketide biosynthesis protein (database accession number p40830), have substantial homology to the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 HMG-CoA synthase. The homology between the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 HMG-CoA synthase and the Tac and Taf proteins of the M. xanthus is greater than the homology between the HMG-CoA synthases from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 and eukaryotes. The bacterial HMG-CoA synthases and the bacterial mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylases share substantial homology with their eukaryotic orthologs. Archaeal HMG-CoA synthases form a more distantly related group of enzymes (Wilding et al., J. Bacteriol. 182, 4319-4327, 2000) and no mevalonate diphosphate decarboxylase orthologs are found in archaea (Smit, A. and Mushegian, A., Genome Res, 10, 1468-1484, 2000).

Alignments of the mevalonate kinase (Mvk) (SEQ ID NO:49) and the phosphomevalonate kinase (Pink) (SEQ ID NO:51) from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 to the orthologous proteins from other bacteria (SEQ ID NOs:95-104 (Mvk) and 105-114 (Pmk)) are shown in FIGS. 20 and 21, respectively. There is much less homology among the bacterial kinases than among the bacterial orthologs of the other enzymes of the mevalonate pathway. The mevalonate kinase from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (SEQ ID NO:49) has a 37 amino acid insert in the amino-terminal region, which is lacking in other mevalonate kinases. Together with the bacterial Mvk's some archaeal enzymes, e.g. from Archaeoglobus fulgidus, Methanobacterium thermoautotrophicum and Pyrococcus abyssi, are among the best homologues to the Mvk from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. The homology among bacterial phosphomevalonate kinases is even weaker than the homology among the bacterial mevalonate kinases. The proteins with the best homologies to the Pmk from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (SEQ ID NO:51) are Mvk's from archaea, e.g. Aeropyrum pernix, Pyrococcus horikoshii, M. thermoautotrophicum, P. abyssi and A. fulgidus. Since no Pmk's are found in archaea (Smit, A. and Mushegian, A., Genome Res, 10, 1468-1484, 2000), this suggests that the same kinase might perform both phosphorylations.

Example 5 Over-expression of the Mevalonate Pathway Genes and the idi Gene from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114 in E. coli

Cloning and expression of the mevalonate operon in E. coli. A λ clone, designated clone 16, from the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 λ library (see Example 4) was used as a template for PCR amplification of the entire mevalonate operon. Primers Mevop-2020 and Mevop-9027 (Table 16) were used for PCR.

TABLE 16 Primers used for amplification of mevalonate operon from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. Primer Sequence (5′→3′) Mevop-2020 GGGCAAGCTTGTCCACGGCACGACCAAGCA (SEQ ID NO:115) Mevop-9027 CGTAATCCGCGGCCGCGTTTCCAGCGCGTC (SEQ ID NO:116)

The resulting PCR product was cloned in TOPO-XL (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, Calif., USA), resulting in plasmid TOPO-XL-mev-op16. The insert carrying the mevalonate operon was excised with HindIII and SacI and cloned in the HindIII-SacI cut vector pBBR1MCS2 (Kovach et al., Gene 166, 175-176, 1995), resulting in plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op16. Plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op16 was used to transform electroporation-competent E. coli strain TG1 (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif.; Sambrook et al., In: Nolan, C. (ed.), Molecular Cloning: A Laboratory Manual (Second Edition), p. A.12, 1989). Two representative positive transformants (E. coli TG1/pBBR-K-mev-op16-1 and E. coli TG1/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2) were grown in Luria Broth (LB, GibcoBRL, Life Technologies) containing 50 mg/l kanamycin and tested for HMG-CoA reductase activity (encoded by the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mvaA gene) using the methods described in Example 1. The results are shown in Table 17. E. coli does not possess a gene coding for the enzyme HMG-CoA reductase, hence the lack of detectable activity. The crude extracts of both representative transformants of E. coli TG1/pBBR-K-mev-op16 had easily measurable HMG-CoA reductase activity, demonstrating the heterologous expression of the cloned mvaA gene.

TABLE 17 HMG-CoA reductase activity in crude extracts of E. coli TG1 cells carrying the cloned mevalonate gene cluster from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. HMG-CoA reductase Strain activity (U/mg) E. coli TG1 Not detected^(a) E. coli TG1/pBBR-K-mev-op16-1 0.25 E. coli TG1/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 0.78 ^(a)Less than 0.03 U/mg

Cloning and expression of the idi gene and the individual mevalonate pathway genes from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 in E. coli. The coding regions of the mevalonate operon genes from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 were amplified by PCR using the primers shown in Table 18. The primers were designed such that the ATG start codons constituted the second half of an NdeI site (cleavage recognition site CATATG), and BamHI sites (GGATCC) were introduced immediately after the stop codons. All PCR products were cloned in the pCR®2.1-TOPO vector. The names of the resulting vectors are listed in Table 19. Except for the mevalonate kinase gene, all genes contained restriction sites for BamHI, NdeI or EcoRI, which had to be eliminated in order to facilitate later cloning steps. The sites were eliminated by introducing silent mutations using the QuikChange™ site-directed mutagenesis kit (Stratagene, La Jolla, Calif., USA) and the oligonucleotides shown in Table 20. The mutagenized coding regions were excised from the TOPO-plasmids with BamHI and NdeI and ligated with the BamHI-NdeI cleaved expression vectors pDS-His and pDS. These expression vectors were derived from pDSNdeHis, which is described in Example 2 of European Patent Application EP 821063 (1999). The plasmid pDS-His was constructed from pDSNdeHis by deleting a 857 bp NheI and XbaI fragment carrying a silent chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. The plasmid pDS was constructed from pDS-His by replacing a small EcoRI-BamHI fragment with the annealed primers S/D-1 (5′ AATTAAAGGAGGGTTTCATATGAATTCG) (SEQ ID NO:117) and S/D-2 (5′ GATCCGAATTCATATGAAACCCTCCTTT) (SEQ ID NO:118).

TABLE 18 Oligonucleotides for the cloning of the mevalonate operon genes. Forward primer Reverse primer Gene Name Sequence (5′-3′) Name Sequence (5′-3′) mvaA MvaA- AAGGCCTCATATGAT MvaA- CGGGATCCTCATCG Nde TTCCCATACCCCGGT Bam CTCCATCTCCATGT (SEQ ID NO:119) (SEQ ID NO:120) idi Idi- AAGGCCTCATATGAC Idi- CGGGATCCTCATTG Nde CGACAGCAAGGATCA Bam ACGGATAAGCGAGG (SEQ ID NO:121) (SEQ ID NO:122) hsc Hcs- AAGGCCTCATATGAA Hcs- CGGGATCCTCAGGC Nde AGTGCCTAAGATGA Bam CTGCCGGTCGACAT (SEQ ID NO:123) (SEQ ID NO:124) mvk Mvk- AAGGCCTCATATGAG Mvk- CGGGATCCTCATCC Nde¹ CACCGGCAGGCCTGA Bam² CTGCCCCGGCAGCG AGCA GTT (SEQ ID NO:125) (SEQ ID NO:126) pmk Pmk- AAGGCCTCATATGGA Pmk- CGGGATCCTCAGTC Nde TCAGGTCATCCGCGC Bam ATCGAAAACAAGTC (SEQ ID NO:127) (SEQ ID NO:128) mvd Mvd- AAGGCCTCATATGAC Mvd- CGGGATCCTCAACG Nde TGATGCCGTCCGCGA Bam CCCCTCGAACGGCG (SEQ ID NO:129) (SEQ ID NO:130) ¹The second codon TCA was changed to AGC (silent mutation - both codons encode serine). ²The last codon GGC was changed to GGA (silent mutation - both codons encode glycine).

TABLE 19 Names of expression plasmids and construction intermediates. PCR fragments in pCR ® 2.1- After first After 2^(nd) Genes in Genes in Gene TOPO mutagenesis mutagenesis pDS pDS-His mvaA TOPO-mvaA- TOPO- TOPO-mvaA pDS-mvaA pDS-His- BB mvaA-B mvaA idi TOPO-ORFX-B TOPO-idi n/a pDS-idi pDS-His-idi hsc TOPO-hcs-EN TOPO-hcs-N TOPO-hcs pDS-hcs pDS-His-hcs mvk TOPO-mvk n/a n/a pDS-mvk pDS-His-mvk pmk TOPO-pmk-B TOPO-pmk n/a Nd pDS-His-pmk mvd TOPO-mvd-B TOPO-mvd n/a pDS-mvd pDS-His-mvd n/a: not applicable; nd: not done

TABLE 20 Oligonucleotides for site-directed mutagenesis. Gene/ Forward primer Reverse primer Site Name Sequence (5′-3′) Name Sequence (5′-3′) mvaA/ Mva-B1up CCGGCATTCGGG Mva-B1down CAGCGAGACCTG BamHI-1 CGGCATCCAGGT GATGCCGCCCGA CTCGCTG ATGCCGG (SEQ ID NO:131) (SEQ ID NO:132) mvaA/ Mva-B2up CGTGCAGGGCTG Mva-B2down CGGGTATTCCGA BamHI-2 GATTCTGTCGGA CAGAATCCAGCC ATACCCG CTGCACG (SEQ ID NO:133) (SEQ ID NO:134) idi/ Idi-Bup2 GGGCTGCGCGCC Idi-Bdown2 CGTCGAAATGCC BamHI GGCATCCGGCAT GGATGCCGGCGC TTCGACG GCAGCCC (SEQ ID NO:135) (SEQ ID NO:136) hcs/ Hcs-Eup GGGTGCGACGG Hcs-Edown CCGCGCATCGAA EcoRI GCGAGTTCTTCG GAACTCGCCCGT ATGCGCGG CGCACCC (SEQ ID NO:137) (SEQ ID NO:138) hes/ Hcs-Nup-c CACGCCCGTCAC Hcs-Ndown-c GGCAACGTATTC NdeI ATACGACGAATA GTCGTATGTGAC CGTTGCC GGGCGTG (SEQ ID NO:139) (SEQ ID NO:140) pmk/ Pmk-Bup GAGGCTCGGGCT Pmk-Bdown CACCGCCGCCGA BamHI TGGCTCCTCGGC GGAGCCAAGCC GGCGGTG CGAGCCTC (SEQ ID NO:141) (SEQ ID NO:142) mvd/ Mvd-Bup CGGCACGCTGCT Mvd-Bdown GAAGGCGTCGCC BamHI GGACCCGGGCG CGGGTCCAGCAG ACGCCTTC CGTGCCG (SEQ ID NO:143) (SEQ ID NO:144)

E. coli strain M15 (Villarejo, M. R. and Zabin, I. J. Bacteriol. 120, 466-474, 1974) carrying the lacI (lac repressor)-containing plasmid pREP4 (EMBL/GenBank accession number A25856) was transformed with the ligation mixtures and recombinant cells were selected for by growth on LB-Agar plates supplemented with 100 mg/L ampicillin and 25 mg/L kanamycin. Positive clones containing the correct mevalonate operon gene insert were verified by PCR.

For expression of the inserted genes, each of the E. coli strains were grown overnight at 37° C. in LB medium containing 25 mg/L kanamycin and 100 mg/L ampicillin. The next day, 25 ml of fresh medium was inoculated with 0.5 ml of the overnight cultures and the new cultures were grown at 37° C. When the OD₆₀₀ of the cultures reached 0.4, expression of the cloned genes was induced by addition of isopropyl-β-D-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) to a final concentration of 1 mM, and the incubation of the cultures (with shaking) was continued for four hours, after which the cells were collected by centrifugation.

Crude extract preparation, HMG-CoA reductase assays, and IPP isomerase assays were performed as described in Example 1. Tables 21 and 22 show the HMG-CoA reductase and IPP isomerase activities, respectively, in the recombinant E. coli strains. Upon IPTG induction, strains M15/pDS-mvaA and M15/pDS-idi contained high levels of the HMG-CoA reductase and IPP isomerase activity, respectively. This illustrates the ability to over-express the mevalonate pathway genes (and overproduce their cognate gene products in an active form) from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 in E. coli.

TABLE 21 Induction of HMG-CoA reductase activity in E. coli strains over- expressing the cloned mvaA gene from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. HMG-CoA reductase Strain/plasmid IPTG Induction activity (U/mg) M15/pDS-mvaA − 8.34 M15/pDS-mvaA + 90.0 M15/pDS-His-mvaA − 1.74 M15/pDS-His-mvaA + 2.95 M15/pDS-mvd^(a) − 0.05 ^(a)M15/pDS-mvd was included as a negative control

TABLE 22 Induction of IPP isomerase activity in E. coli strains over-expressing the cloned idi gene from Paracoccus sp. strain R114. IPP isomerase Strain/plasmid IPTG Induction activity (U/mg) M15/pDS-idi − Not detected^(b) M15/pDS-idi + 22.0 M15/pDS-His-idi − Not detected M15/pDS-His-idi + Not detected M15/pDS-mvd^(a) − Not detected ^(a)M15/pDS-mvd was included as a negative control ^(b)<1 U/mg

FIGS. 22 and 23 show the results of sodium dodecylsulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) analysis of the crude extracts used for the enzyme assays summarized in Tables 21 and 22, respectively. For strains E. coli M15/pDS-mvaA and E. coli M15/pDS-His-mvaA, the presence or absence of a highly expressed protein of the expected molecular mass (36.3 kD) correlated with the HMG-CoA reductase activity measured in the extracts (Table 21). The absence of the His-tagged protein could be explained by reduced expression at the level of transcription or translation by instability of the mRNA or the protein. The crude extracts of E. coli M15/pDS-idi and E. coli M15/pDS-His-idi both showed highly expressed proteins of the expected molecular masses of 37.3 kD and 39.0 kD, respectively. However, only the extract from E. coli M15/pDs-idi had increased IPP isomerase activity (Table 22), indicating that the histidine-tagged form of the enzyme was not functional under these conditions.

FIGS. 24-27 show the results of SDS-PAGE analysis of crude extracts of E. coli strains over-expressing the other four genes of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mevalonate operon (hcs, pmk, mvk, and mvd, refer to Table 19). In all four cases, high expression of the native form of the enzyme was not detected upon IPTG induction, although some expression cannot be ruled out. On the other hand, high expression was observed with the His-tagged form of all four proteins (FIGS. 24-27).

Example 6 Improved Zeaxanthin Production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by Over-Expression of the crtE Gene

Construction of pBBR-K-Zea4. pBBR-K-Zea4-up and pBBR-K-Zea4-down and effects of these plasmids on zeaxanthin production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114. The carotenoid (crt) gene cluster of Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 was excised from plasmid pZea-4 (Pasamontes et al., Gene 185, 35-41, 1997) as an 8.3 kb BamHI—EcoRI fragment. This fragment containing the crt gene cluster was ligated into the BamHI and EcoRI-cut vector pBBR1MCS-2 (GenBank accession #U23751) resulting in pBBR-K-Zea4 (FIG. 28). Plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4 was introduced into Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by conjugation to test for improved zeaxanthin production. The control strain R114 and two independent isolates of strain R114/pBBR-K-Zea4 were tested for zeaxanthin production in shake flask cultures (using medium 362F/2, see Example 11). The data in Table 23 show that both recombinant strains carrying plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4 produced significantly higher levels of zeaxanthin than R114, and had higher specific rates of production (mg zeaxanthin/OD₆₆₀). This suggested that one or more of the genes within the cloned insert in pBBR-K-Zea4 encoded an enzyme(s) that was limiting for zeaxanthin production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114.

TABLE 23 Zeaxanthin production by strains R114 and R114/pBBR-K-Zea4. 24 Hours 48 Hours 72 Hours ZXN^(a) Spec. ZXN Spec. ZXN Spec. Strain (mg/l) Form.^(b) (mg/l) Form. (mg/l) Form. R114 54.5 2.2 81.7 4.1 78.1 4.5 R114/pBBR-K- 41.0 3.0 100.7 5.2 97.6 6.2 Zea4 (clone 4) R114/pBBR-K- 41.1 3.1 110.5 5.7 102.1 6.5 Zea4 (clone 5) ^(a)Zeaxanthin ^(b)Specific Formation (mg ZXN/1/OD₆₆₀)

To localize the positive effect, two plasmid derivatives were created that contained subcloned regions of the cloned insert present in pBBR-K-Zea4 (refer to FIG. 28). The “upstream” region of the pBBR-K-Zea4 insert, comprising ORF 5 and the genes atoB and crtE, (Pasamontes et al., Gene 185, 35-41, 1997) is flanked by unique sites for the restriction enzymes XbaI and AvrII. Plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4-down was constructed by digesting pBBR-K-Zea4 with these two enzymes and deleting the “upstream” region. Analogously, plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4-up was constructed by deletion of the “downstream” region within the cloned insert in pBBR-K-Zea4, using the restriction enzymes EcoRV and StuI. The two new plasmids were transferred to Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by conjugation. Zeaxanthin production was compared (shake flask cultures, same conditions as described above) in strains R114 (host control), R114/pBBR-K (empty vector control), R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-down and R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-up (Table 24). The data clearly showed that the positive effect on zeaxanthin production was a result of the presence in multiple copies of the cloned segment containing ORF5, atoB and crtE, i.e., the insert present in plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4-up. In further work (not shown), a series of deletion plasmids was constructed from pBBR-K-Zea4-up. By introducing each of these plasmids into strain R114 and testing for zeaxanthin production, it was determined that it was over-expression of the crtE gene that was providing the improved zeaxanthin production in strains R114/pBBR-K-Zea4 and pBBR-K-Zea4-up. This result is consistent with the activity of GGPP synthase (encoded by crtE, refer to FIG. 1B) being limiting for zeaxanthin production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114. Using the methods described in Example 1, crude extract of strain R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-up was found to have 2.6-fold higher GGPP synthase activity than R114 (data not shown). To prove this directly, a new plasmid allowing over-expression of only the crtE gene was constructed as described in the following two sections.

TABLE 24 Zeaxanthin production by strains carrying deletion derivatives of plasmid pBBR-K-Zea4. 24 Hours 48 Hours 72 Hours ZXN^(a) Spec. ZXN Spec. ZXN Spec. Strain (mg/l) Form.^(b) (mg/l) Form. (mg/l) Form. R114 35.0 1.2 75.7 4.1 73.9 4.4 R114/pBBR-K 32.0 1.5 59.3 3.1 63.3 3.9 R114/pBBR-K- 51.5 2.2 98.8 5.5 85.5 5.7 Zea4-up R114/pBBR-K- 41.6 1.8 63.4 3.3 66.4 3.9 Zea4-down ^(a)Zeaxanthin ^(b)Specific Formation (mg ZXN/1/OD₆₆₀)

Construction of the expression vectors pBBR-K-PcrtE and pBBR-tK-PcrtE. The vector pBBR1MCS-2 was cut with BstXI and Bsu36I and the larger fragment was ligated with the annealed oligonucleotides MCS-2 up (5′ TCAGAATTCGGTACCATATGAAGCTTGGATCCGGGG 3′) (SEQ ID NO:145) and MCS-2 down (5′ GGATCCAAGCTTCATATGGTACCGAATTC 3′) (SEQ ID NO:146), resulting in vector pBBR-K-Nde. The 270 bp region upstream of the crtE gene in the carotenoid gene cluster from Paracoccus sp. strain R114, which contains the putative crtE promoter (PcrtE ) including the ribosome binding site and the crtE start codon (Pasamontes et al., Gene 185, 35-41, 1997) was amplified from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA by PCR with primers crtE-up (5′ GGAATTCGCTGCTGAACGCGATGGCG 3′) (SEQ ID NO:147) and crtE-down (5′ GGGGTACCATATGTGCCTTCGTTGCGTCAGTC 3′) (SEQ ID NO:148). The PCR product was cut with EcoRI and NdeI and inserted into the EcoRI-NdeI cut backbone of pBBR-K-Nde, yielding plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE. An NdeI site, which contains the ATG start codon of crtE, was included in primer crtE-down. Hence, any introduced coding region with the start codon embedded in a NdeI site should be expressed using the ribosomal binding site of crtE. The plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE was cut with BamHI and the annealed oligonucleotides pha-t-up (5′ GATCCGGCGTGTGCGCAATTTAATTGCGCACACGCCCCCTGCGTTTAAAC 3′) (SEQ ID NO:149) and pha-t-down (5′ GATCGTTTAAACGCAGGGGGCGTGTGCGCAATTAAATTGCGCACACGCCG 3′) (SEQ ID NO:150) were inserted. The insertion was verified by sequencing, and the version of the plasmid having the oligos inserted in the orientation that reconstitutes the BamHI site closer to the PcrtE promoter was named pBBR-tK-PcrtE. The inserted sequence carries the putative transcriptional terminator found between the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 phaA and phaB genes (see Example 10) and should, therefore, ensure proper termination of the transcripts initiated from the PcrtE promoter.

Construction of plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3. To construct a multi-copy plasmid for increased expression of the crtE gene in the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 host, the crtE gene was amplified from plasmid p59-2 (Pasamontes et al., Gene 185, 35-41, 1997) by PCR using the primers crtE-Nde (5′ AAGGCCTCATATGACGCCCAAGCAGCAATT 3′) (SEQ ID NO:151) and crtE-Bam (5′ CGGGATCCTAGGCGCTGCGGCGGATG 3′) (SEQ ID NO:152). The amplified fragment was cloned in the pCR®2.1-TOPO vector, resulting in plasmid TOPO-crtE. The NdeI-BamHI fragment from TOPO-crtE was subcloned in NdeI-BamHI-digested plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE, yielding pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE. Finally, pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3 was constructed by replacing the smaller BglII fragment from pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE with the smaller BglII fragment from pBBR-K-Zea4-up. Plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3 was transferred to Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by electroporation. Using the methods described in Example 1, GGPP synthase activity in crude extracts was found to be 2.9-fold higher in strain R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3 than in strain R114 (data not shown). This degree of elevated activity was similar to that observed in R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-up. Table 25 shows the zeaxanthin production by strain R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3 was essentially identical to strain R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-up.

TABLE 25 Comparison of zeaxanthin production by strains R114/pBBR-K- PcrtE-crtE-3 and R114/pBBR-K-Zea4-up. 24 Hours 48 Hours 72 Hours ZXN^(a) Spec. ZXN Spec. ZXN Spec. Strain (mg/l) Form.^(b) (mg/l) Form. (mg/l) Form. R114 49.0 1.6 83.9 3.3 97.8 4.3 R114/pBBR-K 42.6 1.8 73.7 3.8 88.8 4.9 R114/pBBR-K- 64.6 2.9 127.0 5.8 165.6 8.5 PcrtE-crtE-3 R114/pBBR-K- 64.7 2.9 118.0 5.9 158.0 10.1 Zea4-up ^(a)Zeaxanthin ^(b)Specific Formation (mg ZXN/1/OD₆₆₀)

Example 7 Expression of Individual Genes of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 Mevalonate Operon in the Native Host, Paracoccus sp. strain R114

Expression of individual cloned genes of the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mevalonate operon in the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 host. The mutagenized coding regions of the mevalonate operon genes in TOPO-plasmids (see Example 5) were excised with BamHI and NdeI and ligated with the BamHI-NdeI cleaved vector pBBR-tK-PcrtE (see Example 6). The resulting plasmids pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-idi, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-hcs, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvk, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-pmk and pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvd were introduced into Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by electroporation. Transformants were selected on agar medium containing 50 mg/l kanamycin and verified by PCR.

To illustrate that the plasmid-borne mevalonate pathway genes can be expressed in the native host Paracoccus sp. strain R114, HMG-CoA reductase activity was compared in crude extracts of strains R114/pBBR-K (control) and R114/pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA (methods used are set forth in Example 1). The specific activities of HMG-CoA reductase in strains R114/pBBR-K and R114/pBBR-tK-PcrtE-mvaA were 2.37 U/mg and 6.0 U/mg, respectively. Thus the presence of the mvaA gene on a multicopy plasmid (and expressed from the PcrtE promoter) resulted in a 2.5-fold increase in HMG-CoA reductase activity relative to the basal (i.e., chromosomally encoded) activity of R114 carrying the empty vector pBBR-K.

Example 8 Construction of “Mini-Operons” for Simultaneous Over-Expression the Cloned Genes of the Mevalonate Pathway with the Paracoccus sp. Strain R114 crtE Gene

Plasmid constructions. As was shown in Example 6, introduction of plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtE-3 into Paracoccus sp. strain R114 resulted in increased production of zeaxanthin, indicating that GGPP synthase activity was rate limiting for zeaxanthin biosynthesis in strain R114. Example 7 further showed that genes coding for the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway could be over-expressed in the native host Paracoccus sp. strain R114, and resulted in increased activity of the encoded enzyme. However, none of the recombinant strains of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 that carried plasmids containing each individual gene of the mevalonate operon showed increased zeaxanthih production compared to strain R114 (data not shown). It is possible that the benefit of over-expression of the genes of the mevalonate operon in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 could be masked by the downstream “bottleneck” in the zeaxanthin pathway (GGPP synthase). Creation of plasmids that allow simultaneous over-expression of each mevalonate pathway gene (or perhaps combinations of these genes) together with crtE could relieve all rate limitations in the overall zeaxanthin biosynthetic pathway, thereby improving zeaxanthin production. The next section describes the construction of “mini-operons” designed to allow co-over-expression of crtE and each of the genes coding for the five enzymes of the mevalonate pathway.

The crtE, mvaA, idi and mvk genes were excised from the respective TOPO-plasmids (described in Examples 5 and 6) with BamHI and NdeI and ligated with BamHI-NdeI-cleaved vector pOCV-1 (described in Example 12). The crtE gene does not have an adenine as the last nucleotide of the coding region, and in addition, has a TAG rather than a TGA stop codon and an unsuitable distance between the stop codon and the BamHI site. Therefore, the end of crtE does not meet the requirements of the operon construction vectors (refer to Example 12) and crtE must be the last gene in any operon constructed with pOCV-1-crtE. To meet the requirement for an adenine as the first nucleotide of the second codon and the last nucleotide of the last codon, mutations had to be introduced in three genes of the mevalonate operon. The second codon of pmk, GAT, encoding Asp, was changed into AAT, encoding Asn. The last codon of mvd ends with a T and the last codons of pmk and hcs end with C. Changing these nucleotides to A results in silent mutations except for pmk where the last amino acid is changed from Asp to Glu. Oligonucleotides were designed to introduce the necessary changes by PCR. The sequences of the oligonucleotides and the templates used for those PCR reactions are shown in Table 26. All PCR products were cloned in the pCR®2.1-TOPO vector, resulting in plasmids TOPO-mvd^(OCV), TOPO-pmk^(OCV) and TOPO-hcs^(OCV). The inserts were excised with NdeI and BamHI and ligated with the NdeI-BamHI cut backbone of pOCV-2 (see Example 12). The final cloning steps to assemble each of the “mini-operons” were analogous, and are illustrated by the representative scheme for construction of pBBR-K-PcrtE-mvaA-crtE-3 (FIG. 29).

TABLE 26 Oligonucleotides and templates used for PCR in the construction of plasmids TOPO-mvd^(OCV), TOPO- pmk^(OCV) and TOPO-hcs^(OCV). Forward primer Reverse primer Gene Name Sequence (5′-3′) Name Sequence (5′-3′) Template Hcs Hcs- AAGGCCTCATA Hcs- CCGGATCCTCA pBBR-tK-PcrtE- Nde TGAAAGTGCCT mut3 TGCCTGCCGGT hcs AAGATGA CGACATAG (SEQ ID NO:123) (SEQ ID NO:153) Pmk Pmk- GAAGGCACATA Pink- GCCGGATCCTC pBBR-tK-PcrtE- mut5 TGAATCAGGTC mut3 ATTCATCGAAA pmk ATCCGCGC ACAAGTCC (SEQ ID NO:154) (SEQ ID NO:155) Mvd Myd- AAGGCCTCATA Mvd- ACGCCGGATCC pBBR-tK-PcrtE- Nde TGACTGATGCC mut3 TCATCGCCCCT mvd GTCCGCGA CGAACGGC (SEQ ID NO:129) (SEQ ID NO:156)

Example 9 Cloning and Sequencing of the ispA Gene Encoding FPP Synthase from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

Because FPP synthase lies in the central pathway for zeaxanthin biosynthesis in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (see FIG. 1B), increasing the activity of this enzyme by increasing the dosage of the ispA gene has the potential to improve zeaxanthin production. For this reason, the ispA gene from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 was cloned and sequenced as follows. The amino acid sequences of six bacterial FPP synthases were obtained from public databases. These sequences have several highly conserved regions. Two such regions, and the oligonucleotides used for PCR, are shown in Table 27. PCR with oligonucleotides GTT-1 and GTT-2, using Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA as template, gave a product of the expected size. The PCR product was cloned in the vector pCR®2.1-TOPO and sequenced. The cloned fragment was used as a probe for a Southern analysis of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA and was found to hybridize to a BamHI-NcoI fragment of about 1.9 kb (data not shown). Paracoccus sp. strain R114 DNA was cut with BamHI and NcoI and the fragments were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis. The region between 1.5 and 2.1 kb was isolated and cloned in the BamHI and NcoI sites of a cloning vector. This partial library was then screened using the ispA-PCR fragment as a probe, and two positive clones were isolated. Sequencing confirmed that the plasmids of both clones contained the ispA gene. Upstream of ispA (SEQ ID NO:159) is the gene for the small subunit of exonuclease VII, XseB (SEQ ID NO:158), and downstream is the dxs gene (SEQ ID NO:160) encoding the 1-deoxyxylulose-5-phosphate synthase. This is the same gene arrangement as found in E. coli. The sequence of the NcoI-BamHI fragment is shown in FIG. 30 (SEQ ID NO:157).

Using the same general cloning strategy described in Examples 5-7, a new plasmid, pBBR-tK-PcrtE-ispA-2 was constructed to allow for over-expression of the ispA gene in the native host Paracoccus sp. strain R114. The plasmid was introduced into strain R114 by electroporation, and transformants were confirmed by PCR. Three representative transformants and a control strain (R114/pBBR-K) were grown in 362F/2 medium (Example 11), crude extracts were prepared and assayed for activity of the ispA gene product, FPP synthase according to the methods described in Example 1. The basal (chromosomally-encoded) FPP synthase specific activity in R114/pBBR-K was 62.6 U/mg. The FPP synthase activity in the three transformants was 108.3 U/mg (73% increase), 98.5 U/mg (57% increase) and 83.8 U/mg (34% increase), demonstrating the over-expression of the ispA gene and overproduction of its product, FPP synthase, in an active form in Paracoccus sp. strain R114.

TABLE 27 Oligonucleotides designed from two conserved bacterial IspA peptides. Peptide 1 Bradyrhizobium Val His Asp Asp Leu Pro japonicum (SEQ ID NO:161) Rhizobium sp. Val His Asp Asp Leu Pro strain NGR234 (SEQ ID NO:162) Bacillus Ile His Asp Asp Leu Pro stearothermophilus (SEQ ID NO:163) Bacillus Ile His Asp Asp Leu Pro subtilis (SEQ ID NO:164) Escherichia Ile His Asp Asp Leu Pro coli (SEQ ID NO:165) Haemophilus Ile His Asp Asp Leu Pro influenzae (SEQ ID NO:166) Oligonucleotide tc cay gay gay ctg cc GTT-1 (5′-3′) (SEQ ID NO:167) Peptide 2 Bradyrhizobium Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp japonicum (SEQ ID NO:168) Rhizobium sp. Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp strain NGR234 (SEQ ID NO:169) Bacillus Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp stearothermophilus (SEQ ID NO:170) Bacillus Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp subtilis (SEQ ID NO:171) Escherichia Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp coli (SEQ ID NO:172) Haemophilus Asp Asp Ile Leu Asp influenzae (SEQ ID NO:173) Reverse gay gay atc ctg gay complement of (SEQ ID NO:174) Oligonucleotide GTT-2 (5′-3′) Y = C or T

Example 10 Cloning and Sequencing of the Genes Coding for Acetyl-CoA Acetyltransferase from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

The first committed step in IPP biosynthesis is the condensation of acetyl-CoA and acetoacetyl-CoA to hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA (HMG-CoA) by HMG-CoA synthase. The substrate acetoacetyl-CoA is formed by the enzyme acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase (also known as acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase or β-ketothiolase) by condensation of two molecules of acetyl-CoA FIG. 1A). Because this reaction links central metabolism (at acetyl-CoA) to isoprenoid biosynthesis via the mevalonate pathway, increasing the activity of acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase by gene amplification has the potential to increase carbon flow to carotenoids and other isoprenoids in vivo. In Paracoccus sp. strain R114, there are at least two genes, atoB and phaA, that encode acetyl-CoA acetyltransferases. The end of the atoB gene is 165 nucleotides upstream of the start of crtE in Paracoccus sp. strains R1534 (Hohmann et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,087,152 (2000)) and R114 (this work). The nucleotide sequence of the atoB gene (SEQ ID NO:175), and the corresponding amino acid sequence of the encoded acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase (SEQ ID NO:176), from Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 is shown in FIG. 31.

Using the same general strategy as described in Example 5, the atoB gene was cloned in plasmids pDS and pDS-His. The new plasmids, pDS-atoB and pDS-His-atoB were introduced into E. coli strain M15. The resulting strains M15/pDS-atoB and M15/pDS-His-atoB were grown with and without IPTG induction (as described in Example 5), and crude extracts were prepared for acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase assays (methods used were described in Example 1) and SDS-PAGE analysis. The acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase specific activities in extracts of M15/pDS-atoB and M15/pDS-His-atoB (with IPTG induction) were 0.2 U/mg and 13.52 U/mg, respectively. The basal activity measured in E. coli without the plasmids was 0.006 U/mg. FIG. 32 shows the overproduction of the cloned acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase upon IPTG induction. The degree of overproduction was much higher in M15/pDS-His-atoB, consistent with the measured acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase activity in the (induced) extracts of the two strains.

Acetoacetyl-CoA is also the substrate for the first committed step in poly-hydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biosynthesis. In many bacteria the genes involved in PHA biosynthesis are grouped in operons (Madison and Huisman, Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., 63, 21-53, 1999). In Paracoccus denitrificans the phaA and phaB genes, encoding the acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase and acetoacetyl-CoA reductase, respectively, are clustered in an operon (Yabutani et al., FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 133, 85-90, 1995) whereas phaC, the gene encoding the last enzyme in the pathway, poly(3-hydroxyalkanoate) synthase, is not part of this operon (Ueda et al., J. Bacteriol. 178, 774-779, 1995). PCR fragments containing parts of phaA from Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 and phaC from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 were obtained using primers based on the P. denitrificans phaA and phaC gene sequences. The PCR fragments were then used as probes to screen a Paracoccus sp. strain R114 λ-library (see Example 4). Several λ-clones hybridizing with the phaA or the phaC probes were isolated, and the presence of the phaA or phaC genes in the inserts was verified by sequence analysis. Three phaA λ-clones were further analyzed by subcloning and sequencing, whereby the phaB was found downstream of phaA. Therefore, as is the case in P. denitrificans, the phaA and phaB genes are clustered whereas the phaC gene is located elsewhere in the genome. The nucleotide sequence of the phaAB cluster (SEQ ID NO:177) and the deduced amino acid sequences (SEQ ID NOs:178 and 179) are shown in FIG. 33. The clustering of genes involved in PHA biosynthesis in operons suggests that at least phaA and phaB are expressed together when the cell produces poly(3-hydroxyalkanoates). On the other hand, a putative transcriptional stop signal is found between the phaA and phaB genes from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (FIG. 33), which is absent in the P. denitrificans phaAB operon (Yabutani et al., FEMS Microbiol. Lett., 133, 85-90, 1995). Thus, the expression of the two genes might not be coupled in Paracoccus sp. strain R114.

Using the same general strategy as described in Example 5, the phaA gene was cloned in plasmid pDS-His. The new plasmid, pDS-His-phaA, was introduced into E. coli strain M15. The resulting strain M15/pDS-His-phaA was grown with and without IPTG induction (as described in Example 5) and crude extracts were prepared for SDS-PAGE analysis. FIG. 34 shows the overproduction of the cloned His-tagged Paracoccus sp. strain R114 PhaA (acetyl-CoA acetyltransferase) upon IPTG induction in the E. coli M15 host.

The potential benefit of amplifying the atoB or phaA genes, encoding acetyl-Co acetyltransferase, on zeaxanthin production is mentioned above. In addition, it may be beneficial for zeaxanthin production to decrease or-eliminate the activity of actoacetyl-CoA reductase (the phaB gene product) to avoid diversion of some of the acetoacetyl-CoA formed in vivo to the PHA pathway. Mutants of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 lacking activity of phaB could be obtained by gene replacement techniques (specifically replacing the wild-type phaB gene in the chromosome with an inactive form of the gene) or by classical mutagenesis and screening.

Example 11 Model for the Industrial Production of Lycopene Using Mutants Derived from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

Lycopene is a red carotenoid that is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of zeaxanthin in the new Paracoccus species represented by strain R-1512 and its mutant derivatives R1534 and R114. As lycopene itself has significant commercial potential, it was of interest to test the potential of the new Paracoccus species to produce lycopene by industrial fermentation. To obtain mutants blocked in zeaxanthin biosynthesis that accumulated lycopene, Paracoccus sp. strain R114 was subjected to mutagenesis with ultraviolet (UV) light followed by screening for red colonies. The UV mutagenesis was performed as follows. An overnight culture of strain R114 was grown in ME medium (see Example 2). The overnight culture was subcultured into fresh ME medium (initial OD₆₁₀=0.1) and incubated at 28° C. for 3 hours. Aliquots of this culture were centrifuged and the pellet washed with 20 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.2). After a second centrifugation, the pellet was resuspended to a final OD₆₁₀ of 0.1. Ten milliliter aliquots of the cell suspension were placed in a sterile 100-ml glass beaker. The thin layer of cell suspension was irradiated with UV light at a flux of 1450 μW/cm² for a pre-determined optimal length of time. The cell suspension was mixed during the irradiation by means of a paper clip in the beaker and a magnetic stirrer. The mutagenized cell suspensions (and the umnutagenized controls) were plated on 362/F2 agar medium (Table 28). Triplicate viable plate counts (in dim room light) were done on suspensions before and after mutagenesis. Plates were incubated for 4-5 days at 28° C., and the colonies were scored. Several red colonies (putative lycopene producers) were identified and purified by re-streaking. One mutant, designated UV7-1, was further evaluated for lycopene production.

Table 29 shows the zeaxanthin production and lycopene production by the control strain R114 and its mutant derivative UV7-1. Strain R114 produced only zeaxanthin. Mutant UV7-1 produced mostly lycopene, but also produced a residual amount of zeaxanthin, suggesting that the mutational block in UV7-1 (presumably in the crtY gene, refer to FIG. 1B) is not complete. These results show that it is possible to derive lycopene producing strains from Paracoccus sp. strain R114.

TABLE 28 Recipe and preparation for medium 362F/2 Component Amount Glucose monohydrate 33 g Yeast extract 10 g Tryptone 10 g NaCl 5 g MgSO₄.7H₂O 2.5 g Agar (for solid medium) 20 g Distilled water To 932 ml adjust pH to 7.4 sterilize by filtration (liquid medium) or autoclaving (solid medium) Add 2.5 ml each of microelements solution, NKP solution and CaFe solution Amount per liter Microelements solution distilled water (NH₄)₂Fe(SO4)₂.6H₂O 80 g ZnSO₄.7H₂O 6 g MnSO₄.H₂O 2 g NiSO₄.6H₂O 0.2 g EDTA 6 g sterilize by filtration Amount per liter NKP solution distilled water K₂HPO₄ 250 g (NH₄)₂HPO₄ 300 g sterilize by filtration Amount per liter CaFe solution distilled water CaCl₂.2H₂O 75 g FeCl₃.6H₂O 5 g Concentrated HCl 3.75 ml sterilize by filtration

TABLE 29 Zeaxanthin and lycopene production by Paracoccus sp. strain R114 and its red mutant derivative UV7-1. Zeaxanthin (mg/l) Lycopene (mg/l) 24 hours R114 36.65 0 UV7-1 3.85 20.85 48 hours R114 72.95 0 UV7-1 5.75 85.95 72 hours R114 83.9 0 UV7-1 5.85 124.55

Example 12 Model for the Industrial Production of Astaxanthin by Fermentation using Strains Derived from Paracoccus sp. Strain R114

Astaxanthin is a commercially important carotenoid used primarily in the aquaculture industry. Pasamontes and Tsygankov (European Patent Application 872,554 (1998)) showed that astaxanthin production could be achieved in E. coli by introducing plasmids containing combinations of the cloned carotenoid (crt) genes from Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 and Paracoccus carotinifaciens E-396^(T). Together, the cloned crt genes (crtEBIYZ (see FIG. 1B) and crtW (β-carotene β-4 oxygenase) encoded a total biosynthetic pathway from FPP through zeaxanthin (see FIG. 1B) to astaxanthin. The sequences of the P. carotinifaciens E-396 crtW, Paracoccus sp. R1534 crtZ, and Paracoccus sp. R1534 crtE genes and encoded polypeptides are set forth in (SEQ ID NOs:180 and 181 (crtW); 182 and 184 (crtZ); and 184 and 185 (crtE)) However, it was not shown that astaxanthin production could be achieved in the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 host family. To demonstrate the utility of recombinant strains derived from strain R114 for astaxanthin production, the cloned crtW gene (SEQ ID NO:180) was introduced into strain R114 as follows.

TABLE 30 PCR primers used for the work described in Example 12. Primer name Sequence CrtW-Nde 5′ AAGGCCTCATATGAGCGCACATGCCCTGCC 3′ (SEQ ID NO:186) CrtW-Bam 5′ CGGGATCCTCATGCGGTGTCCCCCTTGG 3′ (SEQ ID NO:187) CrtZ-Nde 5′ AAGGCCTCATATGAGCACTTGGGCCGCAAT 3′ (SEQ ID NO:188) CrtZ-Bam 5′ AGGATCCTCATGTATTGCGATCCGCCCCTT 3′ (SEQ ID NO:189)

The crtW gene was amplified by PCR from the cloned crt cluster of Paracoccus carotinifaciens strain E-396^(T) (Tsubokura et al., Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol., 49, 277-282, 1999; Pasamontes and Tsygankov, European Patent Application 872,554, 1998) using the primers crtW-Nde and crtW-Bam (Table 30). The primers were designed such that the ATG start codon constitutes the second half of an NdeI site (cleavage recognition site CATATG), and a BamHI site (GGATCC) was introduced immediately after the stop codon. The PCR product was cloned in the pCR®2.1-TOPO vector, resulting in plasmid TOPO-crtW. The crtW gene was excised with NdeI and BamHI and subcloned in the NdeI-BamHI cut vector pBBR-K-PcrtE (described in Example 6) to create plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW.

Plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW was transferred to Paracoccus sp. strain R114 using a standard bacterial conjugation procedure (E. coli strain S 17 (Priefer et al., J. Bacteriol. 163, 324-330 (1985)) was the donor organism). Transconjugants were selected on medium 362F/2 agar (Table 28) containing 50 mg/l kanamycin and purified by restreaking on the same medium. The presence of plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW in the strain was confirmed by PCR. Carotenoid production by strains R114 (host control), R114/pBBR-K (empty vector control) and R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW was measured in shake flask cultures as described in Examples 1 and 2, except that liquid 362F/2 medium was used instead of ME medium. These results are shown in Table 31. The control strains R114 and R114/pBBR-K produced only zeaxanthin. In strain R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW, the zeaxanthin was completely consumed by the plasmid-encoded β-carotene β-4 oxygenase. However, although astaxanthin was produced, two other ketocarotenoids, adonixanthin and canthaxanthin, accumulated at higher levels. This indicated an imbalance in vivo of the β-carotene hydroxylase (encoded by the chromosomal crtZ gene in strain R114) and the cloned β-carotene β-4 oxygenase (CrtW).

To test this hypothesis, two new plasmids were created that contained the crtZ and crtW genes together in mini-operons. The order of the genes was made different in the two constructs (i.e., crtZ-crtW and crtW-crtZ) to try and create different ratios of expression of the crtZ and crtW genes. The construction of the new plasmids required the assembly of a special set of cloning vectors as follows. A series of operon construction vectors (based on the vector pCR®2.1-TOPO) was designed to facilitate the assembly of genes (in this case, crtZ and crtW) into operons. The genes of interest must have an ATG start codon, embedded in an NdeI site

TABLE 31 Astaxanthin production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 containing plasmids expressing the crtW gene alone and in combination with the crtZ gene. Strain ZXN ADN CXN AXN Total Sp. Form.^(a) 24 hours R114 46.5 0 0 0 46.5 2.1 R114/pBBR-K 38.8 0 0 0 41.4 2.2 R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 13.0 21.8 2.3 37.5 2.1 crtW R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 14.9 29.5 1.3 45.6 2.1 crtWZ R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 18.0 20.4 7.3 45.65 2.1 crtZW 48 hours R114 72.6 0 0 0 74.4 2.8 R114/pBBR-K 70.1 0 0 0 70.1 3.1 R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 26.7 22.0 26.9 75.5 3.9 crtW R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 30.9 27.2 34.8 92.9 4.0 crtWZ R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 15.7 11.2 58.3 85.1 4.1 crtZW 72 hours R114 82.5 0 0 0 82.5 5.3 R114/pBBR-K 82.9 0 0 0 82.9 5.1 R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 19.7 17.0 46.8 83.5 5.2 crtW R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 28.7 26.4 43.8 98.8 6.1 crtWZ R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE - 0 18.3 14.4 66.3 98.9 5.9 crtZW ^(a)ZXN, zeaxanthin; AND, adonixanthin; CXN, canthaxanthin; AXN, astaxanthin. ^(b)Specific Formation, expressed as mg/l total carotenoid/OD₆₆₀.

Furthermore, the first nucleotide after the start codon and the last nucleotide before the stop codon must be adenine and the gene must lack sites for at least one of the enzymes BsgI, BseMII, BseRI and GsuI. Four operon construction vectors were constructed, differing in the arrangements of their polylinker sequences (SEQ ID NOs: 190-197) (FIG. 35). The genes to be assembled in operons are first inserted individually between the NdeI and the BamHI sites of the appropriate operon construction vectors. The resulting plasmid with the upstream gene of the envisioned operon is then cut with one of the two enzymes at the end of the polylinker and with an enzyme, which has a unique site within the vector backbone. The plasmid containing the downstream gene of the envisioned operon is cut with one of the first two enzymes of the polylinker and with the same enzyme (with a unique site in the vector backbone) used for the first plasmid (containing the desired upstream gene). The fragments carrying the genes are isolated and ligated, resulting in a pOCV plasmid with both genes between the NdeI and the BamHI sites. More genes can be added in an analogous fashion. The assembled genes overlap such that the first two nucleotides, TG, of the TGA stop codon of the upstream gene coincide the last two nucleotides of the ATG start codon of the downstream gene. The same overlap is found between all genes in the carotenoid (crt) operon (crtZYIB) in Paracoccus sp. strain R1534 (Pasamontes et al., Gene 185, 35-41, 1997).

The pOCV backbone is derived from pCR®2.1-TOPO. The BseMII site in the region necessary for replication, upstream of the ColE1 origin, was eliminated by site directed mutagenesis changing the site from CTCAG into CACAG. The remaining three BseMII sites and one GsuI site were eliminated by removing a 0.8 kb DdeI-Asp700 fragment. The remaining vector was blunt-end ligated after fill-in of the DdeI recessed end. The polylinkers (FIG. 35) were inserted between the BamHI and XbaI sites by means of annealed oligonucleotides with the appropriate 5′ overhangs.

Plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, was constructed using the operon construction vector pOCV-2 as follows. The crtZ gene was amplified by PCR from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 using the primers crtZ-Nde and crtZ-Bam (Table 30). The primers were designed such that the ATG start codon constitutes the second half of a NdeI site (cleavage recognition site CATATG) and a BamHI site (GGATCC) was introduced immediately after the stop codon. The PCR product was cloned in the pCR®2.1-TOPO vector, resulting in plasmid TOPO-crtZ. To assemble the two genes in a mini-operon, both genes, crtZ and crtW were excised with NdeI and BamHI from the plasmids TOPO-crtZ and TOPO-crtW and subcloned in the NdeI-BamHI cut vector pOCV-2, creating plasmids pOCV-2-crtZ and pOCV-2-crtW. Plasmid pOCV-2-crtZ was cut with BseMII and PstI (there is a unique PstI site in the kanamycin resistance gene) and the 2.4 kb fragment (containing crtZ) was ligated with the crtw-containing 1876 bp BseRI-PstI fragment from pOCV-2-crtW. The resulting plasmid, pOCV-2-crtZW, was cut with NdeI and BamHI and the crtZW fragment was ligated with the NdeI-BamHI backbone of pBBR-K-PcrtE to yield pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW. Plasmid pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ, was constructed in an analogous fashion.

The data in Table 31 show that the ratio of adonixanthin, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin did not change appreciably in strain R114/pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtWZ compared to strain pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtW. However, in strain pBBR-K-PcrtE-crtZW, the production of the ketocarotenoids was shifted in favor of astaxanthin. This result indicates that the level of expression is dependent on the position of the gene within the mini-operon, and suggests that increasing the in vivo level of β-carotene hydroxylase activity creates a balance between the activities of this enzyme and β-carotene β-4 oxygenase that is more favorable for full conversion of zeaxanthin to astaxanthin.

The results described in this Example also show that it is possible, through appropriate genetic engineering, to produce not only astaxanthin, but also other ketocarotenoids of commercial interest in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 or its relatives. For example, expression of a gene coding for β-carotene β-4 oxygenase in a crtZ mutant of strain R114 (lacking β-carotene hydroxylase activity) would provide for production of exclusively ketocarotenoids, e.g., echinenone or canthaxanthin, without co-production of hydroxylated carotenoids. Taken together, the results presented in this Example and Example 11 show the broad utility of Paracoccus sp. strain R114 and its relatives to produce industrially important carotenoids.

Example 13 Accumulation of Mevalonate in Cultures of Paracoccus sp. Strain R114 Overexpressing Genes of the Mevalonate Pathway

This Example shows that overexpression of the genes of the mevalonate pathway in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 leads to increased carbon flow through the mevalonate pathway. The construction of plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 was described in Example 5. Plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 was constructed as follows. A DNA fragment containing most of the mvaA gene and the entire idi and hcs genes (see FIG. 13) was obtained on a 3.1 kb SmaI-SalI fragment following partial digestion of a λ-clone containing the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 mevalonate operon (see Example 4). This fragment was subcloned in pUC19, yielding the plasmid pUC19mev-op-up′. To facilitate subcloning, the KpnI-HindIII fragment of pUC19mev-op-up′ containing the mevalonate genes was recloned in the vector pBluescriptKS⁺, resulting in plasmid pBluKSp-mev-op-up′. A 1.7 kb SalI fragment from pUC19mev-op-up′ was then cloned in the SalI site of plasmid 2ES2-1, which is a pUC19-derived plasmid containing the cloned SalI-EcoRI fragment M from Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (see Example 4 and FIG. 13). This resulted in plasmid pUC19mev-op-up-2. Plasmid pUCmev-op-up-3 was then obtained by combining the BbsI-BsaI fragment from pUC19mev-op-up-2 carrying the beginning of the mevalonate operon with the BbsI-BsaI fragment from pBluKSp-mev-op-up′ containing idi and hcs. Separately, a unique MluI site was introduced between the NsiI and KpnI sites of the vector pBBR1MCS-2 (refer to Example 5) by inserting an annealed primer containing an MluI restriction site. The resulting new cloning vector pBBR-K-Mlu was cut with MluI and KpnI and the MluI-KpnI fragment from pUCmev-op-up-3, containing the first three genes of the mevalonate operon, was inserted, yielding plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op-up-3.

Plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 was then constructed by insertion of the SmaI fragment from plasmid 16SB3, which contains most of the mvk gene and the 5′ end of pmk (plasmid 16SB3 is a pUC 19-derived plasmid containing the Paracoccus sp. strain R114 SalI-BamHI fragment A; refer to Example 4 and FIG. 13). The insert of plasmid pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 contains the putative mevalonate operon promoter region, the first four genes of the mevalonate operon, and the 5′ end of pmk.

Plasmids pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 and pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 were each introduced into Paracoccus sp. strain R114 by electroporation. Production of zeaxanthin and mevalonate by the new strains were compared to the control strain R114. The strains were grown in baffled shake flasks in liquid medium 362F/2 (see Example 11) for 72 hours. For strains R114/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 and R114/pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4, kanamycin (50 mg/l) was also added to the cultures. The cultivation temperature was 28° C. and shaking was at 200 rpm. Zeaxanthin was measured by the method set forth in Example 1.

Mevalonate in culture supernatants was measured as follows. A 0.6 ml sample of the culture was centrifuged for 4 minutes at 13,000×g. Four hundred microliters of the supernatant were added to 400 microliters of methanol and mixed by vortexing for 1 minute. The mixture was centrifuged again for 4 minutes at 13,000×g. The resulting supernatant was then analyzed directly by gas chromatography (GC) using the method of Lindemann et al. (J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal. 9, 311-316, 1991) with minor modification as follows. The GC was a Hewlett-Packard 6890plus instrument (Hewlett-Packard, Avondale, Pa., USA) equipped with a cool-on-column injector and a flame ionization detector. One microliter of sample prepared as described above was injected onto a fused silica capillary column (15 m length×0.32mm ID) coated with a 0.52 micron film of crosslinked modified polyethylene glycol (HP-FFAP, Agilent Technologies, USA). Helium was used as the carrier gas at an inlet pressure of 0.6 bar. The temperature of the programmable injector was ramped from 82° C. to 250° C. at a rate of 30° C./minute. The column temperature profile was 80° C. for 0.5 minutes, followed by a linear temperature gradient at 15° C./min to 250° C. and finally held at 250° C. for 5 minutes. The detector temperature was maintained at 320° C.

In the first experiment, zeaxanthin and mevalonate production were measured in strains R114 and R114/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 (Table 32). Both strains produced similar amounts of zeaxanthin, but strain R114/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 produced a four-fold higher level of mevalonate. These results show that overexpression of the genes of the mevalonate pathway in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 results in increased carbon flow through the mevalonate pathway. The accumulation of mevalonate was expected because strain R114/PBBR-K-mev-op16-2 does not have an overexpressed crtE gene, and the crtE gene product (GGPP synthase) is known to be a limiting step in zeaxanthin production in Paracoccus sp. strain R114 (see Examples 6 and 8). Cells having a limiting amount of GGPP synthase, upon overproduction of the enzymes of the mevalonate pathway, would be expected to accumulate FPP (refer to FIG. 1B), and it is well known that FPP is a potent inhibitor of mevalonate kinase (Dorsey and Porter, J. Biol. Chem., 243, 4667-4670, 1968; Gray and Kekwick, Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 279, 290-296, 1972; Hinson et al. J. Lipids Res. 38, 2216-2223, 1997). Therefore, accumulation of FPP resulting from overexpression of the genes of the mevalonate pathway would cause inhibition of mevalonate kinase, which in turn is manifested as mevalonate accumulation in the culture.

TABLE 32 Zeaxanthin and mevalonate production in strains R114 and R114/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2. Strain/plasmid Mevalonate (mg/l) Zeaxanthin (mg/l) R114 50.5 70.0 R114/pBBR-K-mev-op16-2 208.2 65.2

In a second experiment, using the assays described previously zeaxanthin and mevalonate production were measured in strain R114 and two independent isolates of R114/pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 (Table 33). These results again show that overexpression of the genes of the mevalonate pathway increased carbon flow through the mevalonate pathway.

TABLE 33 Zeaxanthin and mevalonate production in strains R114 and R114/pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4. Strain/plasmid Mevalonate (mg/l) Zeaxanthin (mg/l) R114 45 67.5 R114/pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 133.2 53.7 (Isolate 1) R114/pBBR-K-mev-op-up-4 163.7 47.6 (Isolate 2)

Deposit of Biological Materials

The following biological material was deposited under the terms of the Budapest Treaty with the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) at 10801 University Blvd., Manassas, Va. 20110-2201, USA, and were assigned the following accession numbers:

Strain Accession No. Date of Deposit Paracoccus sp. R114 PTA-3335 Apr. 24, 2001 Paracoccus sp. R1534 PTA-3336 Apr. 24, 2001 Paracoccus sp. R-1506 PTA-3431 Jun. 5, 2001

All patents, patent applications, and publications cited above are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety as if recited in full herein.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims. 

1. An isolated polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence selected from the group consisting of: SEQ ID NO: 47; an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 47 having hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA synthase (HMG-CoA synthase) activity; an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 46 under the following conditions: hybridization in 40% formamide, 1M NaCl, 1% sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) at 37° C., followed by at least one wash in 0.2×SSC at 60° C. for 20 minutes; and an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:
 47. 2. An isolated polypeptide of claim 1 having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 47. 3. An isolated polypeptide according to claim 2 comprising amino acids corresponding to positions 269-298 of SEQ ID NO:
 47. 4. An isolated polypeptide of claim 2 consisting of the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:
 47. 5. An isolated polypeptide of claim 1 comprising an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is encoded by a polynucleotide that hybridizes to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 46 under the following conditions: hybridization in 40% formamide, 1M NaCl. 1% SDS at 37° C., followed by at least one wash in 0.2×SSC at 60° C. for 20 minutes.
 6. An isolated pofypeptide of claim 5 consisting of an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is encoded by a potynucleotide that hybridizes to the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ ID NO: 46 under the following conditions: hybridization in 40% formamide, 1M NaCl, 1% SDS at 37° C., followed by at least one wash in 0.2×SSC at 60° C. for 20 minutes.
 7. An isolated polypeptide of claim 1 comprising an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:
 47. 8. An isolated polypeptlde of claim 7 consisting of an amino acid sequence of a polypeptide having HMG-CoA synthase activity, which is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:
 47. 9. An isolated polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 47, which polypeptide has HMG-CoA synthase activity.
 10. An isolated polypeptide of claim 9 consisting of an amino acid sequence of a fragment of SEQ ID NO: 47, which polypeptide lias HMG-CoA synthase activity. 